11 





iiiiii 





:^,i.„~ 



LIFE 



CAPTAIN NATHAN HALE 



Partp-SK ^f *l^ J^mnitan |letotati0n. 



By I. W. STUART. 



^diU, M^\}t aitir (jjEiuroujET, foiinir a fjK^Uss ^XKhz ; 
Wiitl ffic^nius' lihin^ flam^ !ji5 iosom ^lohtli, 

In ^orll^'s fair jpat]& !jis fwt a&Sfiitur^lr far, 

^])z ^xiliz of ^£a«, t\)z rfsi'it^ Ijoy^ of SEar ; 

In llutj flrnt, in lian^cr xalni aj5 tScn — 

9fo fri£nlrj5 imtt^it^nt^, anlir siiucri to ^caJj^n. 

^obo sf)ort fji's courjSf, tfj£ pri^t fjo&o ^earl^ ixion, 

S.@tfj{U iottpi'n^ jFritniJsfjip mourns fj^r fafeorit^^on^." 

Pres. Dwight. 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 

HARTFOHD: 
PUBLISHED BY F. A. BROAVN 

185G. 









Entered according to Act of Congress, in the jear 1855, by 

F. A. BROWN, 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut. 



PRESS OF CASE, TIFFANY AND COMPANY, 



D K D I C A T E I) 

T 

COLONEL CHARLES J. RUSS 

IN MARK OF REGARD 
FOR 

HIS VALUABLE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE WOEK 

AND IN TOKEN 

OF 

PERSONAL FRIENDSHIP. 



PREFACE. 

"I DO think it hard," wrote Stephen Hempstead, tiie friend 
and companion of the subject of the following Memoir, '' that 
Hale, who was equally brave, young, accomplished, learned 
and honorable — should l)e forgotten on the very threshold of 
his fame, even by his countrymen ; that while our own histo- 
rians have done honor to tlie memory of Andre, Hale should 
be unknown ; that while the remains of the former have been 
honored even hj our own countrymen, those of the latter should 
rest among the clods of tlic valley, undistinguished, unsought, 
and unknown." 

Most fully do wc accord in sentiment with the patriotic re- 
monstrant just quoted. It is indeed ' hard,' that a spirit exalted 
as was that of Captain Nathan Hale — that a life and conduct 
like his own, so pure, so heroic, so disinterested, and so crowned 
by an act of martyrdom one of the most galling and valiant 
on record — should not have been fitly commemorated, hitherto, 
eitlier by the pen of history or of biography. His ' remains ' — the 
4ust and ashes of his body — of tliesc no one can tell the ])lace 



IV PREFACE. 

W. BoYNTON Esquire also, of Coventry, the Secretary of the 
Hale Monument Association — Hon. Henry C. Deming, and 
George Brinley Jr., Esquire, of Hartford — Hon. H. E. 
Peck, of New Haven— the Eev. Dr. Sprague, of Albany, 
New York— Hon. James W. Beekman, of New York City — 
the late venerable Gen. Jeremiah Johnsox, of Brooklyn, 
Long Island — and especially Henry Ondkrdonk Jr., Esquire, 
of Jamaica, Long Island, author of the " Bevolutionary 
Sketches of Queens County " — most politely added to our stores. 

We procured also affidavits, or well-authenticated statements, 
from various persons upon Long Island, Avho were cotempora- 
ries of Hale, and conversant v,ith his fate— as from Bobert 
Townsend, a farmer of Oyster Bay, who heard the details of 
his capture from the British officer who seized him, Captain 
Qiiarme — i'vom Solomon Wooden, a shipbuilder, in 1776, near 
the place of Hale's capture, and familiar with its incidents — 
from the families of Jesse Fleet and Samuel Johnson, who lived 
at Huntington, East Neck, upon the veiy spot where he was 
made a prisoner — and particularly fi-om Andrew Hegeman, 
and Tunis Bogart, honest farmers, who during the Revolution 
were impressed from Long Island as waggoners in the British 
service, and who themselves saw Hale executed. We had 
besides in our possession the report made to General Hull by 
an officer of the Britisli Commissariat Department, who also 
saw Hale hung. 

Thus furnished Avith materials — and more abundantly than at 
first we expected — we began to prepare the present volume. 
Yet at best — considering how much really there must have been in 



I'REFACE. V 

rlie life and chariicter of Hale, attractive to a laudable curiosity, 
that like tiie dust into wliich his manly frame has been dissi- 
l)atod, must lie hidden forcA er from our knowledge — we were 
but poorly e(iuipped. Many things, lo be written down, it is 
true, were jjlain — were easy of arrangement, and caused no 
embarrassment to our pen. But otlier tbings again, worthy of 
record, were wra])t in gloom. There were points, hitherto in 
dispute, to be settled. There were points, unknown when we 
commenced our lai)or, to lie develope<l in tbe progress, and by 
the process of examination. Side by side then, or stretched 
out in links seemingly incapable of connection, we placed our 
various materials — many of them scraps merely of information, 
atomic, insulated, and wbolly unpromising of results. Com- 
parison and contrast gradually shed light upon tliem. They 
grew related. They knit together. Little femily groups of 
affiliated facts and conclusions started up from their midst, and 
ever and anon, as neAV and pleasant merchandise, aided to load 
up the train of our biograpliy. 

So we proceeded, on to our journey's end — slowly — but sure- 
ly, we would fain believe — with all the certainty that could 
attend our steps, and where it did not, certain of our uncertain- 
ty. We have at last, consequently, cut a road for all who wish 
to travel over tlie life of Hale — not a long one to those who 
may pursue it — nor tedious, mc fain would trust. We have 
not, it will be obsei\ ed, set up tbickly along in its course the 
l)OSts of autborities, l)ut content ourselves with erecting one 
large and gvucral one at our point of departure — here in this 
Preface — in ibc ])ai-agrai)!is just above. Therewith will not 
evcrv traveller in our track be satisHed '. We trust tbat be will. 



Yl PREFACE. 

Some notes he will lind by the way, but they are made, chiefly, 
to illustrate the text — sclrloin for the purpose of proviug' its gen- 
uineness. 

A Geiicdlofiij of Ihc Familij of Naikan Hair, now for the first 
time published, will also be found. It is from the pen of a gen- 
tleman, to whom we have already alluded as one of the grand- 
nephews of the subject of this Memoir — the Kev. Edwari> 
E. Hale, of Worcester, Massachusetts. Prepared, as it has 
been, with great labor of researcli, with scrupulous judgment, 
and skill of arrangement, it forms a most valuable addition to 
the present volume, and can not proA c otherwise than accepta- 
ble, to all especially of the Hole hlood. Our own obligations to 
its worthy author for the pains he has taken in its execution,, 
and for its gratuitous use in our pages, are deep and abiding. 

Pictorial illustrations also the Reader will lirtd — views, first 
of Hale's Birth-Plaee — second, of Hale and his brothers play- 
ing the forbidden game of Morris — third of his entering New York 
with his Prize Sloop — fourth, of his passing in disguise within the 
Camp of the Enemy— fifth, of his Capture— sixth, of his march 
to Execution — seventh, of his Camp Basket, and Camp Book — 
eighth, of his Monument — and ninth, of Andre. SaAC the first 
view, wliich, chiefly, is copied from one by J. AY. Barber Es_ 
quire in his "Historical Collections of Connecticut," and that 
of the Momunent, procured originally by the Secretary of the 
"Hale Associariou," and tliat of Andre, from a copy of the 
one in tlie Tinuubull (iahcry at New Haven — they have all been 
designed under the eye of the author of this work — in the first 
instance for his own gratiHcaiion simply — as an ornament for 



1' R K V ACE. Vll 

liis parlor — and without reference to pu])lioation. The second 
owes its origin to the skilful pencil of Henry Bryant, artist, of 
Hartford. The third is from the quick and ingenious hand of 
W. M. B. Hartley Ksquire, of New York. The rest were 
designed by Josci)h Hopes, a highly accomplislied artist, also of 
Hartford, Connecticut. They have allhecn copied and impress- 
ed, with most praiseworthy care, at the excellent Lithographic 
Establishment of E. B., and E. C. Kellogg-, also of Hartford. 

That his lal)or nniy prove grateful, and instruct the patriot- 
ism of the Kcader, and move his noblest sensibilities in behalf 
of one, 

■• The pi'ido of Peace, the rising liope of AVar," 

who, in a crisis of danger the most appalling, gave up youth, 
hope, ambition, love, life, all, for his native land, is the fervent 
wish of the author of the following pages. Through these, 
Nathan Hale, tlie illustrious Martyr-Spy or the Ameri- 
can Revomjtion, asks to be rememl)ered by his countrymen. 

T. W STUART. 
Charter Oak Place, 

Nov. ,30th, 185.5. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAP. I. 

Page. 
Hale's birth, family, and birth ph\ce. His early training. 
He prepares for College. He enters Yale. His career 
in College. Ho graduates, and takes a school in East 
Haddam, Conn. His occupations there. He removes to 
New London, and continues to teach. His feelings and 
ability as an instructor. The manner in which he spent 
his time. His correspondence. His personal appear- 
ance. His great activity. The ricli promise of his youth. l.> 

CHAP. XL 

The Lexington Ah«rm. Hale gives up his school, and 
joins the army as a volunteer. His motives in doing so. 
Is stationed for a while at New London. Leaves for 
Boston. The prospect before him. Joins the brigade 
of Gen. Sullivan. His life for six months in the Camp 
around Boston, His skill in military discipline — his 
studies — liis amusements — with extracts from his Diarv. 3.5 



CONTENTS, 



CHAP. III. 

Page. 
Hale leaA'es the vicinity of Boston for Now York. His 
gallant capture of a British sloop in the East River. 
His station, occupation, patriotism, attachments, and 
characteristic modesty, illustrated by letters from his 
own i)en 61 

CHAP. IV. 

Circumstances of the American and British aruues when 
Hale undertook his fatal mission. The office of a spy — 
its danger — its ignominy. Col. Knowlton commissioned 
by Gen. Washington to procure some one to undertake 
it. He appeals to American oflicers. and to a French 
Serjeant in tlie army. They all refuse, save Hale, who 
readily volunteers for the duty. His fellow-officers 
warmly remonstrate — l»nt in vain. Hale nobly persists 
in his purpose - 74 

CHAP. V. 

After receiving instructions from General Washington, 
he starts upon Ids expedition, accompanied by Stephen 
Hempstead, a confidential soldier of his own company. 
They reach Norwalk, Connecticut. Hale here assumes 
a disguise, parts with his companion, and leaves for Long 



CONTENTS. XI 

Page. 
Island in the sloop Huntington, Captain Pond. Safe 
passage across the Sound. His journey to New York, 
and its risks 90 

CHAP. VI. 

He starts on his return to the American Camp. Reaches 
the " Cedars," East Neck, Huntington, L. I., where he 
is captured. His behaviour on the occasion. Is carried 
to New York. The great lire in the city at the time. 
Is immediately taken before Gen. Howe. The head- 
(juarters, appearance, and character of the British Com- 
mander-in-chief. Hale's heroic conduct upon his exam- 
ination. Is condemned as a spy, and is to be hung " at 
daybreak the next morning." 101 

CHAP. VII. 

A reflection. Hale unappalled. His confinement after 
sentence. His jailer and executioner, William Cunning- 
ham, Provost-Marshal of the British army. Cruel treat- 
ment of Hale. His gloomy situation. His noble en- 
diirance. Writes letters to his friends, and prepares 
himself, sublimely, for tlic catastrophe. Is taken out to 
die. The brutal Provost-Marshal tauntingly demands 
from him a dying speech. That speech ! The fatal 
swing 11(> 



Xll CONTENTS 



CHAP. VIII. 

Page - 
Eft'ect of Hale's death — upon Gen. Washington — upon the 
American army — upon his relatives and friends else- 
where — ui)on his camp attendant, Asher Wright. Deep 
and general mourning. The Hale Monument Associa- 
tion. The Monument. Extracts from poetry in memo- 
ry of Hale. An epitaph l^y a friend. Comparison 
between Hale and Andre. Conclusion 136 



APPENDIX. 

Page. 

A. Genealogy of the Family of Nathan Hale, . . . .185 

B. Sketch of the lady to wliom Hale was betrothed, . . 203 

C. Hale's Diary, 205 

D. Remarks on Hale by Hon. H. J. Raymond of New 

York 227 



i\ 



NATHAN HALE 



CHAPTER I. 

Hale's birth, family, and birthplace. His early training. He 
prepares for College. He enters Yale. His career in Col- 
lege. He graduates, and takes a school in East Haddam, " 
Conn. His occupations there. He removes to New London, 
and continues to teach. His feelings and ability as an in- 
structor. The manner in which he spent his time. His cor- 
respondence. His personal appearance. His great activity. 
The rich promise of his youth. 

Nathan Hale was born in Coventry, Con- 
necticut, June sixth, 1755. He was the sixth of 
twelve cliildren, nine sons and three daughters, 
offspring of Richard and Elisabeth Hale, and 
was the third in descent from John Hale, the 
first minister of Beverly, Massachusetts.* His 
father, a man of sterling integrity, piety and 
industry, had emigrated early in life from New- 



* See Appendix A. 

2 



14 NATHAN HALE. 

buiy ill Massachusetts to Coventry, where, as 
farmer, magistrate, deacon in the church, and 
representative several times in the General As- 
sembly, he passed a long, laborious and useful 
life, and died on the first of June, 1802, much 
lamented. His mother, the daughter of Joseph 
and Elisabeth Strong, of Coventry, was a lady 
of high moral and domestic worth, strongly at- 
tached to her children, and careful of their cul- 
ture. The family was eminently Puritan in its 
faith, tastes, and manners — a quiet, strict, godly 
household, where the Bible ruled, and family 
prayers never failed, nor was grace ever omitted 
at meals, nor work done after sundown on a 
Saturday night. 

The nature of Nathan Hale's early training 
may hence be understood. He must have been 
brought up scrupulously. " in the fear of God." 
His after life proves that he was, though when 
a stripling his lively instincts led him at times 
to rebel a little, with some of his brothers, but 
never rudely, against parental strictness. A 
pleasing incident is preserved, illustrating this 




•^ ^f'"' 



NATHAN HALE. 15 

last remark. His father forbade his children to 
use the morris-board, thinking the diversion 
might lead to evil, and to restrain them, would 
allow at times but one light in the room. This 
he was accustomed to hold in his own hand, 
while he sat in a large arm-chair, and read till 
he sank to sleep. The attempt to remove the 
candlestick from his grasp was almost sure to 
result in waking him. So the boys, Nathan 
among them, used to cluster around his chair, 
and play out their games on the morris-board, 
while the sleeping father, unconsciously at the 
time, 

" Holding the tallow candle till its close, 
Let no flame waste o'er his repose." 

The old-fashioned, two-storied house in which 
scenes like this just described took place, stands 
upon elevated ground, with a fine prospect west- 
ward, and had, at the time of which we speak, 
the appendages of copious yards and outbuild- 



16 NATHAN HALE. 

ings, and trees,* while the town around, the gift 
of the Mohegan sachem Joseph to its first pro- 
prietors, was much varied by hill and dale, forest 
and meadow, and beautified with a large lake 
and numerous streams. 

Nathan early exhibited a fondness for those 
rural sports to which such a birthplace and 
scenery naturally imdted him. He loved the 
gun and fishing-rod, and exhibited great inge- 
nuity in fashioning juvenile implements of every 
sort. He was fond of running, leaping, wrest- 
ling, firing at a mark, throwing, lifting, playing 
ball. In consequence, his infancy, at first feeble, 
soon hardened by simple diet and exercise into 
a firm boyhood. And with the growth of his 
body, his mind, naturally bright and active, de- 
veloped rapidly. He mastered his books with 
ease, was fond of reading out of school, and was 
constantly applying his information. His moth- 
er, and particularly his grandmother Strong, 
nourished his thirst for knowledge, and to their 

* See Frontispiece. 



NATHAN HALE. 17 

influence it was owing that his father at last 
consented, contrary to his original purpose, 
fit him for college. He was to be educated for 
the ministry, as were also two of his brothers, 
and was placed as a pupil under the care of 
Doctor Joseph Huntington, the pastor of the 
parish in which he was born. 

Classical academies were then rare out of the 
county towns of New England, and the country 
boy who aspired to a liberal education was gen- 
erally compelled to learn his Latin and Greek 
from the clergyman. And in most cases he was 
thus well taught. In Hale's instance there is 
no doubt of the fact. His instructor, as his 
various controversial and other writings show, 
was very competent. He "was considered in 
the churches a pattern of learning," was labori- 
ous, assiduous, and mild, and when, in 1770, 
young Nathan, then in his sixteenth year, pre- 
sented himself for admission to the halls of 
Yale, we have reason to believe that he passed 
the ordeal of examination with more than usual 
2* 



18 NATHAN HALE. 

credit in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and a 
very reputable acquaintance with Sallust, Cicero, 
and the Greek Testament. 

Of his career in college but little is known. 
That it was distinguished l)y good scholarship, 
good behaviour, and industry, is however certain. 
That it was marked by great popularity among 
his fellows, and with the Faculty, is equally cer- 
tain. Doctor Dwight, his tutor, entertained a 
very high idea of his capacity. He has beauti- 
fully eulogized him in verse. He was wonted, 
down to the close of his life, frequently to recur 
to him, and always in terms of admiration of 
his course in college, and of deep regret for his 
untimely fate.* By him, as also from relatives 
of the pupil, we are assured that Hale was pecu- 

*In the American Historical Magazine for JsLnnary, 1836, is 
a communication, signed M., and written, we are assured by 
the Editor, by "a gentleman who was connected witli the med- 
ical staff of the Revolutionary army," and wlio was "an early 
acquaintance and friend of Hale." In this the writer says : 
"Nathan Hale I was acquainted with, from his frequent visits 
at mv father's house, while an academical student. His own 



NATHAN HALE. 19 

liarly fond of scientific pursuits, and that in 
these he stood at the head of his class. " And 
Science lured him to her sweet abode," is the 
language of Doctor Dwight — a fact proved also 
by the preponderance of books in this depart- ' 
ment in Hale's own little library — among which, 
particularly, was a new and complete Dictionary, 
in four large octavo volumes, of the arts and 
sciences — comprehending all the branches of 
useful knowledge, with accurate descriptions as 
well of various machines and instruments as of 
the classes, kinds, preparations and uses of nat- 
ural productions, and illustrated with above 
three hundred copperplate engravings. In the 
languages also he was a proficient. He stood, 
as the Commencement Exercises show, among 
the first thirteen in a class of thirty-six. 

That he was anxious for mental improvement, 

remarks, and the remarks of my father, left at that period an 
indelible impression on my mind." — "His nrbanityand general 
deportment were peculiarly attracting, and for solid acquire- 
ments I am sure he Avould lose notliing in comparison witli 
Andre." 



20 NATHAN HALE. 

and labored diligently to secure it, is proved by 
other facts. While at Yale, he actively aided 
to found and sustain the Linonian Society of 
this institution — and he was in the habit of epis- 
tolary correspondence with some of his class- 
mates upon literary subjects, themes of taste 
and criticism, of grammar and philology. He 
would correct carefully, and in writing, the 
compositions of some of his fellows, and receive 
the same friendly office in return. A letter from 
Benjamin Tallmadge,* his classmate, still pre- 
served, is of this character, in which the latter 
vindicates his own use of the comparative de- 
gree against a previous criticism by Hale. 

Nor did Hale while in college forget his ath- 
letic sports. The marks of a prodigious leap 
which he made upon the Green in New Haven, 
were long preserved, and pointed out. His in- 
tercourse with his mates was always affable. 
He formed many college friendships, and they 

* This kind of exercise, writes Tallmadge, gives us " oppor- 
tunity to scrutinize all manner of writing and to avoid defects, 
and promotes careful consideration of assertions." 



NATHAN HALE. 21 

lasted till his death — with James Hillhoiise, Ben- 
jamin Tallmadge, Roger Alden, John P. Wyllys, 
Thomas Mead, Eliliu Marvin, and others his 
classmates, with whom he kept up an intimate 
correspondence as long as he lived. He was 
assigned, on graduating, a part with Tallmadge, 
and William Robinson, and Ezra Samson, in a 
Latin Syllogistic Dispute, followed by a Foren- 
sic Debate, on the question, "Whether the Edu- 
cation of Daughters be not, without any just 
reason, more neglected than that of Sons" — a 
curious theme, as implying in that early day an 
inattention to the mental cultivation of the 
gentler sex which cannot be changed on our 
own age. How Hale managed with the subject 
we are not informed, but an especial favorite as 
he always was with the ladies, we doubt not 
that his nature urged him upon this occasion to 
vindicate their claims to educational advantages. 
Soon after graduating, which was in Septem- 
ber, 1773, he commenced keeping school. His 
first engagement in this way was at East Had- 
dam, where he spent the winter of 1773-4 ; in 



22 NATHAN HALE. 

what kind of school precisely we are not in- 
formed, but probably in some select one where 
he was required to instruct l)oth in English and 
in the Classical Tongues. East Haddam was 
at this time a place of much wealth and busi- 
ness activity, but if we are to judge from Hale's 
own description, rather secluded from the rest 
of the world. 

"I was at the receij^t of your letter," he 
writes his friend Mead, May second, 1774, from 
New London, "in East Haddam (alias Moodus,) 
a place which I at first, for a long time, con- 
cluded inaccessible either by friends, acquaint- 
ance, or letters. Nor was I convinced of the 
contrary until I received yours, and at the same 
time two others from Alden and Wyllys. It 
was equally, or more difficult, to convey any- 
thing from Moodus." 

But though thus secluded, it is the testimony 
of a highly intelligent old lady,* who knew Hale 
well when he resided in East Haddam, that he 



* The late Mrs. Hannah Pier; 



NATHAN HALE. 23 

was happy, faithful, and successful in his office 
of teacher. " Everybody loved him," she said, 
''he was so sprightly, intelligent, and kind" — 
and, she added withal, "cvo handsome!" The 
rich scenery of the town, its rocky and uneven 
face, tlie phenomena from which it derives its 
Indian name, its numerous legends of Indian 
Pawaws, its Mount Tom and Salmon River, 
were all sources of great delight to the young 
instructor, as liabitually, the cares of school 
l>eing over, he wandered around for air and 
exercise, for pleasure and the sports of the 
chase — there 

" where the little country girls 
Still stop to whisper, and listen, and look, 
And tell, while dressing their sunny curls, 
Of the Black Fox of Salmon Brook/' 

His happy coml)ination of amiability, vivac- 
ity, and intelligence, soon attracted attention 
elsewhere, and in the winter of 1773-4, we find 
him negotiating with the Proprietors of the 



24 NATHAN HALE. 

Union Grammar School in New London for the 
charge of that institution. This school was a 
select one, where none were accepted as teach- 
ers but those "whose characters bore the strict- 
est scrutiny," and where Latin, English, writing, 
and arithmetic were taught, and where the sal- 
ary was seventy pounds a year, with the privi- 
lege of teaching, out of the regular school hours, 
private classes. Li the spring of 1774 Hale 
took this situation, and in a letter to his friend 
Roger Alden, dated New London, May second, 
1774, thus describes it: 

" I am at present in a school in New London. 
I think my situation somewhat preferable to 
what it was last winter. My school is by no 
means difficult to take care of — it consists of 
about thirty scholars, ten of whom are Latiners, 
and all but one of the rest are writers. I have 
a very convenient school-house, and the people 
are kind and sociable. I promise myself some 
more satisfaction in writing and receiving letters 
from you than I have as yet had. I know of 
no stated communication, but without any doubt 



NATHAN HALE. 25 

opportunities will be miicli more frequent than 
while I was at Moodus." 

In a letter to his uncle at Portsmouth, N. H., 
dated New London, September twenty-fourth, 
17T4, he gives a further history of his school- 
keeping, five months later. 

"My own employment," he says, "is at pres- 
ent the same that you have spent your days in. 
I have a school of 32 boys, about half Latin, 
the rest English. The salary allowed me is 
X70 per annum. In addition to this I have 
kept, during the summer, a morning school, be- 
tween the hours of five and seven, of about 20 
young ladies; for which I have received 6s. 
a scholar, by the quarter. The people with 
whom I live are free and generous; many of 
them are gentlemen of sense and merit. They 
are desirous that I would continue and settle in 
the school, and propose a considerable increase 
of wages. I am much at a loss whether to 
accept their proposals. Your advice in this 
matter, coming from an uncle and from a man 
who has spent his life in the business, would, I 



26 NATHAN HALE. 

think, be the best I could possibly receive. A 
few lines on this subject, and also to acquaint 
me with the welfare of your family, if your 
leisure will permit, will be much to the satis- 
faction of your most dutiful nephew, 

"Nathan Hale.'' 

This letter shows that Hale's services as a 
teacher at New London were highly apprecia- 
ted by his employers — a fact which we learn 
also abundantly from other sources, and partic- 
ularly from his pupils — who, in after years, all 
spoke in strong terms, both of his skill in instruc- 
tion, and of his excellence as a man.* 

* One of these pupils, Colonel Samuel Green, now of Hartford, 
Connecticut, still survives — and the following is his testimony : 
" Hale," he informs us, " was a man peculiarly engaging in his 
manners — these were mild and genteel. The scholars, old and 
young, were attached to him. They loved him for his tact and 
amiability. He was wholly without severity, and had a won- 
derful control over boys. He was sprightly, ardent and steady — 
bore a fine moral character, and was respected highly by all his 
acquaintance. The school in which he taught was owned by 
the first gentlemen in New London, all of whom were exceed- 
ingly gratified by Hale's skill and assiduit}-." With this agrees 



NATHAN HALE. 27 

His time at New London, out of school, was 
spent, a portion in social pleasures, but much of 
it in self-culture. The letters addressed to him 
which remain, as well as some letters of his own, 
show that he cultivated the intimacies he con- 
tracted in college, as well as those which grew 
up elsewhere, with great assiduity, and that he 
wrote as well to improve his understanding as 
to pour out his friendship. The labors and 
duties of a teacher were a frequent theme in 
his letters to his classmates engaged in the same 

the testimony of Mrs. Elisabeth Poole, of New London, long 
an inmate of the same family with Hale, who says that " his 
capacity as a teacher, and the mildness of his mode of instruc- 
tion, were highly appreciated both by parents and pupils " — 
that " he was peculiarly free from the shadow of guile " — and 
that " his simple, unostentatious manner of imparting right views 
and feelings to less cultivated understandings " was unsurpassed 
by that of any individual, who, at the period of her acquaintance 
with him, or after, had fallen under her observation. To the 
same effect Miss Caulkins, in her History of New London, 
remarks, that " as a teacher, Capt. Hale is said to have been a 
firm disciplinarian, but happy in his mode of conveying instruc- 
tion, and highly respected by his piipils." 



28 NATHAN HALE. 

vocation. Nor were the ladies forgotten by his 
pen. He had many female correspondents, and 
among these one, to his fancy " a bright, particu- 
lar star " he " thought to wed " — a young lady 
of his native town with whom, in his father's 
family, he passed several years of intimacy, and 
to whom while in college he was betrothed.* 

* It is to her that William Robinson his classmate in college, 
refers in the following passage in a letter dated "Windsor, [Conn.,] 
January twentieth, 1773, and addressed to Hale at East Haddam. 

" My school is not large ; my neighbors are kind and clever, 
and (summatim) my distance from a house on your side the 
river which contains an object worthy the esteem of every one, 
and, as I conclude, has yours in an especial manner, is not great." 

Her maiden name was Alice Adams, and she was born in 
Canterbury, Connecticut. Her mother was the second wife of 
Captain Hale's father. She was distinguished both for her 
intelligence and her beauty. [See Appendix B.] 

After Hale's death she married for her first husband, Mr. Elea- 
zer Ripley, Avho left her a widow at eighteen years of age, with 
one child. The child died about a year after its father's death. 
She subsequently married William Lawrence Esquire, of Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, where she lived highly esteemed, to a ripe old 
age. She died September fourth, 1845, aged eighty-eight. She 
possessed for many years a miniature of Hale, besides numerous 



NATHAN HALE. 29 

Sometimes, though without ' a poet's just pre- 
tence,' with no attempt at the graces 

" which methods teach, 
And which a master hand can only reach," 

he threw his thoughts into rhyme — but not often, 
unless provoked by some poetical epistle which 
he received — as once by one from his friend 
Tallmadge at Wethersfield, Connecticut, to 
whom, in reply to an apology by the latter for 
his Muse, Hale writes, 

letters from him, and one of his Camp-Books. The miniature, 
most unfortunately, has disappeared. So also have the letters j 
but the Camp-Book we have seen and examined. It is now in 
the possession of one of the lady's grand-daughters, to whose 
polite and careful noting of her grandmother's statements we 
are indebted for several very interesting facts about Hale. 

Shakespeare makes " the idolatrous fancy " of a surviving lover 
"sanctify the relics" of a lover lost, and the strongest memo- 
ries of old age, it is well known, fasten upon the years and events 
of youth. It is a striking circumstance in illustration, that 
the lady in question, just as her pulse of life was ebbing to its 
stop, murmui'ed, as her last words on earth, " Write to Nathan! " 

3* 



30 NATHAN HALE. 

" You're wrong to blame 
Your generous Muse, and call her lame ; 
For Avhen arrived, no mark was found 
Of weakness, lameness, sprain or wound " — 

and bestriding her himself, he describes her as 
tripping, " without or spur or whip," back " along 
the way she lately trod " — giving 

" no fear or pain, 
Unless at times to hold the rein " — 

until at last, arrived at Wether sfield, Tallmadge 
is invited, from the appearance of his Pegasus, 
to judge, 

" unless entirely sound, 
If she could bear [Hale] such a round." 

It is the testimony of all who knew Hale, both 
at New London and elsewhere, that he was ever 
busy. "A man ought never to lose a moment's 
time," he enters in his Diary — "if he put off a 
thing from one minute to the next, his reluc- 



NATHAN HALE 



31 



tance is but increased '^ — and his own life fully 
conformed to the injunction which he thus form- 
ally notes down. " Always employed about 
something," testifies Mrs. Lawrence, "he was 
ingenious and persevering." When his head 
was not at work, his hands were. Here, for 
example, is a large and beautiful Powder-horn, 




wrt. 



still remaining, which he fashioned during one 
of his college vacations.* Mrs. Lawrence, when 
a girl and a member of his father's family, fre- 



* It is now in possession of a grandson of the Mrs. Lawrence 
mentioned in the text, William Roderic Lawrence Esq., of 
Hartford, Connecticut — who received it from his father, to 
whom it was given l)y Deacon Richard Hale, the father of 
Nathan. We are much indebted to Mr. Lawrence for the beau- 
tiful delineation of it by liis own hands. 



32 NATHAN HALE. 

quently saw him at work upon it, and remem- 
bered to her dying day the peculiar concentra- 
tiveness of attention, and the zest with which 
upon this, as upon everything else in the way of 
construction that he undertook, he labored to 
bestow shape and comeliness. 

He iised to say that he " could do anything 
but spin," as he laughed with the girls over the 
spinning-wheel at Coventry. 

In height he was about five feet and ten 
inches, and was exceedingly well proportioned. 
His figure was elegant and commanding. He 
had a full, broad chest, full face, light blue eyes, 
light rosy complexion, and hair of a medium 
brown. The elasticity of his frame is well at- 
tested by feats which he used frequently to per- 
form in New London. He not only, says Colonel 
Green, would put his hand upon a fence high as 
his head and clear it easily at a bound, but would 
jump from the bottom of one empty hogshead 
over and down into a second, and from the bot- 
tom of the second over and down into a third, 
and from the third over and out, like a cat. 



NATHAN HALE. 33 

" His face," adds Colonel Green, " was full of 
intelligence and benevolence, of good sense and 
good feeling." — "Every new emotion," says 
Mrs. Poole, " lighted it with a brilliancy per- 
ceptible to even common observers." — " He had 
marks on his forehead," says Asher Wright, 
" so that every body would know him who had 
ever seen him, having once had powder flashed 
in his face. He had also a large hair mole on 
his neckj just where the knot came. In his boy- 
hood his companions sometimes twitted him 
about it, saying he would be hanged." 

Thus, genial in his nature — of refined ad- 
dress — of remarkable personal beauty — neat, 
unusually so both in his habits and dress — seri- 
ous or gay with the nature of the occasion or 
subject — quick to discern and to relish a joke — 
of a disposition exceedingly affectionate — con- 
stant in his friendships — always ready to lend a 
helping hand — it is the uniform testimony of 
those who knew him, that no person more than 
Hale was the idol of his acquaintances, and that 
no young man of his day commenced life under 



34 NATHAN HALE. 

more flattering auspices. His school, the church, 
society, books, and pleasure, each by turns 
received his attention — each fitly — and time at 
New London rolled along with him, its sands 
noted as they fell, and glittering with promise.* 

* " Possessing genius, taste, and ardor," says Sparks of Hale, 
"he became distinguished as a scholar; and, endowed in an 
eminent degree with those graces and gifts of nature which add 
a charm to youthful excellence, he gained universal esteem and 
confidence. To high moral worth and irreproachable habits, 
were joined gentleness of manners, an ingenuous disposition, 
and vigor of understanding. No young man of his years put 
forth a fairer promise of future usefulness and celebrity ; the 
fortunes of none were fostered more sincerely by the generous 
good wishes of his associates, or the hopes and encouraging 
presages of his superiors." 



CHAPTER II. 

The Lexington Alarm. Hale gives up his school, and joins 
the army as a volunteer. His motives in doing so. Is sta- 
tioned for a while at New London. Leaves for Boston. The 
prospect before him. Joins the brigade of General Sullivan. 
His life for six months in the camp around Boston. His 
skill in military discipline — his studies — ^his amusements — 
with extracts from his Diary. 

Such was Nathan Hale — and so engaged, when 
the Lexington Alarm, April nineteenth, 1775, 
summoned the country to arms. Upon the 
arrival of the express with the news from Boston, 
the citizens of New London at once assembled 
in town-meeting* — breathed forth in speeches 
and resolutions their spirit of patriotic resist- 

* Judo;e Law in the chair. 



36 NATHAN HALE. 

ance — and determined that Captain Coit's Inde- 
pendent Company, the only uniformed company 
in the place, should march to the scene of hos- 
tilities the next morning. Hale was among the 
speakers on this occasion. " I was struck," says 
Captain Law, from whom the fact is derived, 
" with his noble demeanor, and the emphasis 
with which he addressed the assembly." — " Let 
us march immediately ^^^ said he, " and never lay 
doivn our arms until ive obtain our independ- 
ence!''^ And enrolling at once as a volunteer, 
he assembled his school the next morning — made 
his pupils an affectionate address — " gave them 
earnest counsel — prayed with them — and shak- 
ing each by the hand," took his leave. 

It is probable that he soon returned to New 
London — but only to discharge his duties in the 
school temporarily, until he could arrange for a 
permanent connection with the army. This 
connection would interrupt his father's cherished 
project of educating him for the ministry. He 
wrote, therefore, to his parent — stated that "a 
sense of duty urged him to sacrifice everything 



NATHAN HALE. 37 

for his country" — and promised, soon as the 
war was ended, to comply with his wishes in 
regard to a profession. The old gentleman was 
eminently patriotic. Many a time thereafter, 
during the war, did he forbid his family to use 
the wool raised upon his farm, that it might be 
woven into blankets for the army. Many a time 
did he sit upon his ' stoop,' and watch for weary 
soldiers as they passed his house, that he might 
take them within, and if necessary, feed, and 
clothe, and lodge them. He assented readily to 
his son's design, and July sixth, Hale enlisted 
as Lieutenant in the third company of the 
seventh Connecticut regiment commanded by 
Colonel Charles Webb. On the succeeding 
morning he addressed to the Proprietors of the 
Union School the following note : 

"Gentlemen. Having received information 
that a place is allotted me in the army, and 
being inclined, as I hope, for good reasons, to 
accept it, I am constrained to ask as a favor that 
which scarce anything else would have induced 
4 



38 NATHAN HALE. 

me to, which is, to be excused from keeping 
your school any longer. For the purpose of 
conversing upon this, and of procuring another 
master, some of your number think it best there 
should be a general meeting of the proprietors. 
The time talked of for holding it is 6 o'clock 
this afternoon, at the school house. The year 
for which I engaged will expire within a fort- 
night, so that my quitting a few days sooner, I 
hope, will subject you to no great inconvenience. 

" School keeping is a business of which I was 
always fond, but since my residence in this town, 
everything has conspired to render it more 
agreeable. I have thought much of never quit- 
ting it but with life, but at present there seems 
an opportimity for more extended public service. 

"The kindness expressed to me by the people 
of the place, but especially the proprietors of 
the school, will always be very gratefully re- 
membered by, gentlemen, T\dth respect, your 
humble servant, Nathan Hale. 

"Friday, July 7, 1775. To John Winthrop 
Esq., Richard Law Esq., <fcc., &c.'' 



NATHAN HALE. 39 

The simple modesty and sincerity with which 
Hale speaks of himself, and his purpose, in the 
preceding letter, are worthy of remark. No 
bursts of patriotic sentiment — no vision of 
plumes and epaulettes — no self-satisfied allusion 
to that brave kinsman of his own, whose name he 
bore in full, and who, in the battle-band of the 
old French War, gallantly gave his life before 
the bastions of Louisburgh* — not even one little 
bravado about himself, his own motives, or his 
country — though these might all have been 
pardoned to an ardent, ambitious youth of 
twenty-one summers. But ''being inclined for 
good reasons," as he hopes, to accept a place 
allotted him in the army — perceiving an oppor- 
tunity, as it seems to him, " for more extended 
public service" — he asks to be excused from 

* This kinsman, named Nathan Hale, says the American His- 
torical Magazine for February, 1836, "was slain by the burst- 
ing of a cannon at the capture of Louisburgh, in the ' old 
French war,' as it is called by aged people. He is noted in 
tlie account of the Ijattle, as a gallant officer in the Connecticut 
Line." 



40 NATHANHALE. 

" keeping school any longer." Were all solicit- 
ations modestly preferred as this of Hale's — 
were all the paths of military glory entered upon 
in a manner as unassuming, and with motives 
as sincere, as those which actuate the youthful 
hero we commemorate, now as he asks to step 
out on the bloody platform of. the American 
Revolution — what a world of grandiloquent 
tongues would be hushed to repose, and how 
surely those wars only would occur which league 
the soldier with law, liberty, and truth ! 

The company to which Hale was attached, 
was under the immediate command of Major 
John Latimer. It constituted part of a regi- 
ment which was raised by order of the General 
Assembly, in 1775, both for home defence, and 
for the protection of the country at large — and, 
until placed under the General in chief of the 
Continental Army, remained subject to the 
orders of the Connecticut Council of Safety. 
Here now — of interest to be inserted in this 
place — are the names of its members when 
Hale first took charge of it — as appears from 



NATHAN HALE. 41 

a Pay Roll at present in the office of the 
Comptroller of State at Hartford. 

John Latimer, Major. 

Nathan Hale, Capt. after 1st Sept. till then Lieut. 

John Belcher, Lieutenant. 

Joseph Hilliard, Lieutenant. 

Joseph Hillard, Lieutenant after 1st September. 

Alpheus Chapman, Ensign after " 

George Hurlburt, Serjeant. 

Joseph Page, " 

Reuben Hewitt, " 

Ezra Bushnell, '' 

Stephen Prentice, Corporal till Sept. 1st, then Sergeant* 

Joshua Raymond, Corporal. 

Abraham Avery, " 

Henry Hillard, 

Zebulon Cheeseborough," 

Raramerton Sears, Drummer. 

Robert Latimore, Fifer. " 

Robert Latimore, Jr., " 
William Bacon, Isaac Hammon, 

Christopher Beebe, William Hatch, 

Amos Butler, Samuel Hix, 

Richard Booge, Peter Holt, 

Charles Brown, Thomas Hicox, 

Jonathan Bowers, Elisha Hancock, 

Asa Baldwine, Elisha Johnson, 

4* 



42 



NATHAN HALE. 



Guy Beckwith, 
William Carver, 
James Comstock, 
Benjamin Comstock, Jun., 
Simeon Cobb, 
Fairbanks Church, 
John Chappell, 
Benjamin Cheeseborough, 
Caleb Couts, 
Reuben Sheamks, 
George Chunks, 
Peter Cheeseborough, 
Edward Clark, 
James Dennis, 
John Dean, 
John Dennis, 
Christopher Dean, 
Enos Greenfield, 
David Hilhouse, 
George Hakes, 



Joseph Lovatt, 
David McDowell, 
Abel Minard, 
Jabez Minard, 
Lawrence Martin, 
Enos Nero, 
Jared Stephens, 
Daniel Talbott, 
Amos Shaw, 
Sias Pawhig, 
John Patton, 
Christopher Woodbridge, 
James Ward, 
Samuel Woodkind, 
Ichabod Young, 
John Holmes, 
Joseph Brown, 
Joseph Peters, 
Jeremiah Dodge, 
David Baldwine * 



'* Of the above Company, sevent3'-one, including the officers, 
enlisted in July, and three in August. Three died before the 
third day of December, 1775, viz.. Corporal Stephen Prentice, 
November twenty-second — William Hatch, November twenty- 
seventh — and Jonathan Bowers, December second. Hale's 
company, when at New York, was augmented to ninety men — 
its full complement. 



NATHAN HALE. 43 

August third, Hale's Company, together with 
that of Captain Shipman, was stationed, by 
order of the Council, at New London, where 
danger was apprehended from British men of 
war then hovering on the adjacent coasts. 

August seventeenth, its commander received 
orders from the Council to "keep regular 
watches and guards about his camp, and see 
that his soldiers were properly exercised, in- 
structed, and kept clean, and free from idleness 
and bad practices." 

September fourth, the Company was ordered 
by the Council, with other troops, " to make such 
intrenchments and works of defence as should 
be directed by the civil authority and field offi- 
cers" in New London. 

September fourteenth, in consequence of a 
letter from General Washington "requiring 
peremptorily " that all the troops last raised in 
Connecticut should be sent to him. Major Lati- 
mer's Company, with other troops, was "imme- 
diately ordered to march to the camp near 
Boston." 



44 NATHAN HALE. 

September twenty-fourth, at Rehobotli, Massa- 
chusetts, one Eliphalet Slack signs a receipt 
written by Hale^s oimi hand^ and in Hale^s own 
Camp-Book, for five shillings and tenpence law- 
ful money for the use of his house by Major 
Latimer's Company. 

Hale then has been for two months and a half 
attached to the army — ^lias been for about fifty 
days stationed with his Company at New Lon- 
don, and is now, September twenty-fourth, in 
full march for the " Camp at Boston." 

He has had a brief experience of military 
drill, and watches, and intrenchments. He has 
exchanged the comfortable sleeping chamber for 
the tent — the schoolmaster's satchel for the knap- 
sack — the dishes of the quiet house table for the 
iron pot, tin pail, quart runlet, and wooden 
bowl of the camp — the unstinted fare of domes- 
tic life for the soldier's measured pound of beef, 
or l)it of pork and pound of flour — and a salary 
of seventy pounds a year and six shillings a 
quarter additional for teaching girls, for forty- 
eight pounds a year wages as Lieutenant, fifty- 



NATHAN HALE. 45 

two shillings of enlistment bounty, and ''six- 
pence a day as billeting money until provided 
for by the Colony stores." He is a soldier of 
the Continental Line ! A usurping king, thou- 
sands of miles away, was threatening to clutch 
the hard earnings of three millions of Colonists, 
who worshipped God, toiled with honesty, and 
liked some liberty to think and act for them- 
selves, and gather a little treasure for their old 
age, and for their biers — and Hale was bent on 
struggling for this liberty. Thrice already, for 
the same glorious purpose — destined in its career 
of accomplishment to splinter thrones and rock 
the world — thrice had his countrymen met the 
shock of battle, and poured their blood — at 
Lexington — Concord — and when they made 

" That silent, moonlight march to Bunker Hill, 

With spades, and swords, bold hearts and ready hands — 
That Spartan step without their flutes ! " 

Hale knew well these themes. An intelligent 
student of his country's history, he was familiar 



46 NATHAN HALE. 

with its 'traces of blood and prayer' from Plym- 
outh down to Bunker Hill. A patriot, he felt 

" the thrill 
That thoughts of well-loved homes, and streams, and lands 
Awaken — " 

and he is "going into the fight!" 

September twenty-eighth, he reached his sta- 
tion at the foot of Winter Hill near Medford, 
where he remained steadily encamped, in the 
brigade of General Sullivan, till the twenty- 
third of December succeeding, on which day he 
started on foot with Sergeant Sage, through 
snow ' ancle deep,' on a visit to his friends in 
Connecticut. January twenty-seventh, he re- 
turned to camp, having in the interim, January 
first, 1776, received a commission from Congress 
appointing him Captain in the nineteenth Regi- 
ment of Foot commanded by Colonel Charles 
Webb.* January thirtieth, he removed from 

* It is probable that on his visit to Connecticut he went to 
New Haven — since that Officer of the medical staff in the army 



NATHAN HALE. 47 

Winter Hill to Roxbiiry, and was attached to 
the brigade of General Spencer, where he re- 
mained until the April succeeding, when with 
the troops under General Heath, he removed, 
by way of Norwich, Connecticut, to New York. 
His history during this period of about six 
months, from the last of September, 1775, to 
April, 1776, in the ' Camp around Boston,' is 
marked by no highly conspicuous event. We 
have no military successes, of dazzling splendor, 
in wliich he acted a part, to record. The 
American army, as is well known, during this 
time was not drawn out in battle array. There 
was no combination of hosts upon the field. 



quoted on page eighteen of this volume, thus pleasantly testi- 
fies respecting him : " Hale remarked to my father, that he was 
offered a commission in the service of his country, and exclaimed, 
* Dtilce et decorum est pro patria morL' These were some of the 
last expressions I ever heard fall from his lips. The remarks 
of my father, after Hale left the house, Avere, ' That man is a 
diamond of the first water, calculated to excel in any station 
he assumes. He is a gentleman and a scliolar, and last, though 
not least of his qualifications, a Christian ! ' " 



48 NATHAN HALE. 

All was siege and counterplot — one army in a 
city, shut in from every direction but the sea, 
another around that city building intrenchments, 
mounting batteries, and striving by means of 
storming parties, by distant cannonading, and 
by straitening supplies, to drive off the invader. 
Hale's post, however, was one frequently of 
much peril, and his labors at times were very 
arduous. " I see you are stationed," writes one 
of his friends* to him, October ninth, "in the 
mouth of danger. I look upon your situation 
as more perilous than any other in the camp." 
The enemy were constantly making sorties — 
and in the direction, particularly, in which Hale 
was encamped — for cattle, for provisions, and to 
weaken the American lines. They hurled shot 
and shells almost daily — from the Boston Com- 
mon, from Copp's Hill, from Bunker's Hill, and 
from their floating batteries — upon the Ameri- 
can force. The strictest watch was therefore 
necessary against surprise, and in this duty Hale 

* Gilbert Saltonstall. 



NATHAN HALE. 49 

participated actively. " Mounted picket guard — 
mounted main guard — slept little or none" — 
such are frequent entries in a Diary which he 
kept during most of this period, and which is 
fortunately preserved.* In charge often of an 
advance station, he was sometimes so near the 
enemy that he could hear them at work with 
their pickaxes, and his men could distinguish 
their countersignf as it echoed from their Grand 
Rounds faintly through the midnight. Once, 
probably, exposed to a hot fire from a ship in 
the bay and a floating battery, he marched down 
to repulse the British from a landing at Lech- 
mere's Point. The following is his own account 
of the affair, November ninth, Thursday. 

"1 o'cl. P. M. An alarm. The Regulars 
landed at Lechmere's Point, to take off cattle. 
Our works were immediately all manned, and a 
detachment sent to receive them, who were 

* We give it entire in the Appendix to this Volume. See 
App. C. 

te. g. "Hamilton." 

5 



50 N A T H A N H A L E . 

obliged, it being high water, to wade through 
water near waist high. While the enemy were 
landing, we gave them a constant cannonade 
from Prospect Hill. Our party having got on 
to the point, marched in two columns, one on 
each side of the hill, with a view to surround 
the enemy, but upon the first appearance of 
them, they made their boats as fast as possible. 
While our men were marching on to the point, 
they were exposed to a hot fire from a ship in 
the bay and a floating battery — also after they 
had passed the Hill. A few shot were fired 
from Bunker's Hill. The damage on our side is 
the loss of one Kifleman taken, and 3 men 
wounded, one badly, and it is thought 10 or 
more cattle carried off. The Rifleman taken 
was drunk in a tent, in which he and the one 
who received the worst wound were placed to 
take care of the cattle, horses &c., and give 
notice in case the enemy should make an at- 
tempt upon them. The tent they were in was 
taken. What the loss was on the side of the 
enemy we cannot yet determine." 



N A T H A N H A L E . 51 

With the exception, perhaps, of the affair just 
narrated — and during the erection by his com- 
pany, the succeeding spring, of a breastwork in 
Dorchester, in a situation very much exposed to 
British l^alls — and once also in a trip to one of 
the islands in Boston harbor to carry off stock — 
Hale does not seem to have been thrown, during 
his stay around Boston, into any particular col- 
lision with the enemy. Yet he had opportuni- 
ties to distinguish himself, and did so, in other 
ways — and particularly in the care he took to 
prepare his men, by careful discipline within 
the camp, for the onsets of the battle field — a 
duty urgently demanded in an army raw and 
restless under restraint as the American army 
was when first collected. 

" It is of the utmost importance," he enters 
in his Diary, November sixth, " that an officer 
should be anxious to know his duty, but of 
greater that he should carefully perform what 
he does know. The present irregular state of 
the army is owing to a capital neglect in both 
of these [points.]" — ''Studied," he enters No- 



52 NATHAN HALE. 

vember seA^eiith, "the method of forming a regi- 
ment for a review, [the] manner of arraying 
the companies, also of marching round the 
reviewing officers" — and he proceeds to write 
down carefully and at length minute directions, 
from the General Orders, for the guards. The 
knowledge of the military art which it is thus 
obvious Hale took pains to secure, he was able 
to apply in a manner highly conducive to the 
public good. His own company, from the skill 
and taste with which he managed it, soon be- 
came a model for others, particularly in the 
adoption of a simple uniform — an example 
which was noticed with applause by officers and 
companies generally, and which was extensively 
followed. 

When in November, 1775, the army was 
threatened with dissolution by the expiration of 
enlistments. Hale rendered conspicuous service. 
He cheered General Lee, and other officers, 
when sadly cast down by the prospect, and 
going around in person to the men, urged them, 
by every patriotic consideration which lie could 



NATHAN HALE. 53 

address, to remain and fight the battles of their 
country — and not content with this, in the case 
of his own company, promising them his own 
wages if they would tarry for a given period, 
nobly and promptly redeemed his pledge by 
borrowing the money of a brother officer on the 
credit of his own advance pay. Here is an 
entry which he made of the fact, in part, Tues- 
day, November twenty-eighth, 1775, in his 
Diary — which we give, with his name appended, 
to serve also as a fac simile of his hand writing. 



■^^f^t^*-^ 





7^^^ 



^^^^y^ >^T7<j^. 



When Congress had decided upon a new 
establishment. Hale was one of ten officers, who, 

upon the first offer of a paper for the purpose, 

5* 



54 NATHANHALE. 

put down their names for new commissions, and 
both in camp, and in that journey home to which 
reference has ah-eady been made, he labored 
assiduously to procure recruits. It is obvious 
that the soldiers, particularly of his own com- 
pany, were exceedingly attached to him. He 
had charge of their clothing, their rations, their 
wages. Many are the entries in his Camp-Book 
of his trips from Winter Hill to Cambridge, or 
Mystic, for money and continental stores, and 
he notes " ill usage upon the score of provisions'* 
as the chief reason why the soldiers generally, 
November twenty-third, would not extend their 
term of service. 

When oif duty. Hale devoted much time to 
reading and reflection, to history, works of taste, 
and to the newspapers and bulletins of the day. 
A history of Philip, and work of Young's, as 
well as works on the military art, are particu- 
larly noted in his Diary. A poet of the day, 
Timothy Dwight Junior, availed himself of the 
young officer's literary taste, as well as of his 
'politeness and benevolence,' to procure sub- 



NATHAN HALE. 35 

scriptions for his poem within the circle of Hale's 
acquaintance in camp. 

Hale maintained also during this period of his 
life an active correspondence. He was thus 
well informed of important events that trans- 
pired elsewhere, all of which, as the taking of 
St. John's, the expedition of Arnold, the capture 
of prizes by American privateers, the menaces 
coastwise of the British fleet, he enters in his 
Diary; and there are many proofs in letters 
addressed to him, at the time,* of a careful and 
afiectionate interest in his welfare among a large 
circle of friends of both sexes. In these the 
ladies are sure to send him their love, undis- 
guised half the time by the cold phrase of 
' compliments,' a;nd hope he will " send them a 
line." His male friends seem to long for his 
presence again. The sergeants of his own 
company, subscribing themselves his ' good old 
friends,'! regret services which detach them 

* Quite a niimber of these, fortunately, are preserved, 
te. g. John Hurlburt, one of Hale's sergeants. 



56 NATHAN HALE. 

from his society. Some sergeants of other com- 
panies write to ask ' births ' in the army under 
him* — and even among the boys, his former 
pupils at New London, there are those who 
assure him that, if their 'mothers would but 
consent,' they would prefer being with him to 
" all the pleasures which the company of their 
relatives can afford."! 

Camp life has its amusements too, as well as 
its 'dreadful notes of preparation.' Peaceful 
games of chance and strength succeed at inter- 
vals the sounds of ' armorers accomplishing the 
knights,' and ' busy hammers closing rivets up,' 
and occupy, with advantage to the soldier, sea- 
sons otherwise of inactivity. In these Hale at 
times participated at the period now under con- 
sideration, as the following, his own entries, 
show : 



* e. g. Thomas Updike Foster, sergeant in Saltonstall's com- 
pany. 

le. g. Robert Latimer, in a letter dated Ncav London, De- 
cember twentieth, 1775. 



NATHAN HALE. 57 

'' Oct. 24. Winter Hill came down to wrestle, 
with a view to finjd our best for a wrestling 
match to which this hill was stumped by Pros- 
pect, to be decided on Thursday ensuing. Eve- 
ning prayers omitted for wrestling. 

" Oct. 26. Grand wrestling match — no wager 
laid. 

" Nov. 6. Day chiefly spent in jabber and 
checkers. 

" Nov. 7. Eain pretty hard most of the 
day — spent most of it in the Major's, my own 
and other tents in conversation — (some check- 
ers.) 

"Nov. 8. Cleaned my gun — played some 
foot-ball and some checkers." 

At other times of leisure, Hale occupied him- 
self in walks and rides — often to Mystic, to dine 
with his friend Colonel Hall, or to visit his 
laundress for clothes, or " to get brick and clay 
for [his] chimney" at Winter Hill — sometimes 
to view the works around Boston, at Cobble 
Hill, Roxbury, and elsewhere — and sometimes 
" down to Dorchester with a view to go on upon 



58 NATHAN HALE. 

the point." He often called upon his brother 
officers at Prospect Hill, and was to them espe- 
cially attentive, when, as in the case of Major 
Brooks and Captain Hull, they were confined 
by sickness. He was the frequent guest of 
General Putnam at Cambridge — dining with 
him often at his quarters — and strolling there 
to introduce his friends from Connecticut, as 
they happened to visit him in camp. Fre- 
quently also at the quarters of General Sullivan, 
General Lee, and General Spencer, he seems to 
have been an especial favorite with these officers. 
They read to him at times their private advices 
from Congress, and consulted with him in much 
confidence about the administration of the 
army. 

In the midst of all this occupation, military 
and social, Hale never forgot his duties of a 
religious nature. " Captain Hale was a praying 
man," says Asher Wright.* The services of 

* " He pvaj^ed for his first waiter, wlien he Avas sick with a 
fever," continues Wright. " This waiter was from New Lon- 



NATHAN HALE. 59 

Sunday, when performed in camp, lie attended 
with great regularity, as the entries in his Diary 
show, of which the following are specimens : 

" Sab. Oct. 29th. Went to meeting in the 
barn — one exercise. 

"Sunday, [Nov.] 5th, A. M. Mr. Learned 
pr. John, 13. 19. excellentissime. 

"Sabbath Day, 19th. Mr. Bird pr.— one 
service — only beginning after 12 o'cl. Text 
Esther 8th. 6. For how can I endure to see the 
evil that shall come upon my people, or how 
can I endure to see the destruction of my kin- 
dred ? The discourse very good — the same as 
preached to Gen. Wooster, his officers and sol- 
diers, at New Haven, and which was again 
preached at Cambridge a Sabbath or two ago — 
now preached as a farewell discourse. 



don. His father came after liim. He recovered after a while, 
but when he was taken down, Captain Hale was a mind I 
shonkt take his place. And I did, and remained with him 
till he went on to Lono- Island." 



60 NATHAN HALE. 

"ITtli. Sunday. Went to Mistick to meet- 
ing.'' 

So passed, as we have now described, the first 
six months of Hale's life in the Army of the 
Revolution — without opportunity " to speak his 
patriotism in the thunders of victorious bat- 
tle " — ^but in careful and praiseworthy discharge 
of all his other duties as an officer, a man, and 
a Christian. 



CHAPTER III. 

Hale leaves the vicinity of Boston for New York. His gallant 
capture of a British sloop in the East River. His station, 
occupation, patriotism, attachments, and characteristic mod- 
esty, illustrated by letters from his own pen. 

In April, 1776, with the troops under General 
Heath, Hale removed, by way of Norwich, Con- 
necticut, to New York. 

Of the period which follows, down to that 
which is signalized by his death — from April, 
1776 to the ensuing September — we have but 
little to record — for here memorials almost fail 
us. One incident however occurred, which 
well illustrates the energy and courage of his 
nature. 

A British Sloop, laden with supplies, was 
anchored in the East River under the sixty-four 



62 NATHAN HALE. 

guns of the British ship of war Asia, Captain 
Yandeput, and Hale formed the bokl design of 
capturing the vessel. The following is the 
account of the affair giA^en by Asher Wright, 
Hale's own confidential camp-attendant, to the 
late Honorable Andrew T. Judson, Judge of the 
United States Court for the District of Connec- 
ticiit. 

" At the hour appointed," describes Wright, 
" the party assembled, and crossed the river in 
their faithful little bark, skimming so lightly 
over the water as to excite no alarm from any 
quarter. They passed cautiously down by the 
shore to a point of land nearest the sloop, where 
they ceased to ply the oar, and waited for the 
moon to sink below the horizon. It was at the 
dead hour of the night, and all was hushed in 
silence, excepting only the watch-man on the 
quarter deck of the Asia. His voice came in 
the breeze, ' all is well,' when Captain Hale's 
men pulled away for the sloop, and soon found 
themselves along side — and in an instant more 
she was boarded, and aAvay she came with Cap- 



NATHAN HALE. 63 

tain Hale at the helm, and the British tars in 
the hold ! When she struck the wharf, this new 
commander and his American crew were received 
with three cheers, and soon the liberal hand of 
Captain Hale distributed the prize goods to feed 
the hungry, and clothe the naked of our own 
army."* 

Of Hale's station and occupation, otherwise, 
during the period now in question, in New York, 
as well as of his patriotism, attachments, and 
characteristic modesty, some valuable hints are 
furnished in the three following letters, written 
by him in May, June, and August — the last a 
week before the })attle of Flatbush — and ad- 
dressed to one of his brothers. Except a portion 
of the second, which is but a repetition of the 

* To this incident Hale's con-espondent E. Marvin refers, in 
a letter to him from New London, dated June eleventh, 1776. 
The following is the passage : " Am much obliged for your partic- 
ular liistory of the adventure aboard the prize ; wisli you Avould ac- 
quaint me with every incident of good or ill fortune which befalls 
you in your course of life. The whole journal I hope some 
time or otlier to peruse." 



64 NATHAN HALE. 

statements of the first, we give them in their 
chronological order. 

" New York, May 30th, 1776. 
" Dear Brother. 

" Your favor of the 9th of May, and another 
written at Norwich, I have received — the former 
yesterday. You complain of my neglecting 
you — I acknowledge it is not wholly without 
reason — at the same time I am conscious to 
have written to you more than once or twice 
within this half year. Perhaps my letters have 
miscarried. 

" I am not on the end of Long I. but in New 
York, encamped about one mile back of the 
city. We have been on the Island, and spent 
about three weeks there, but since returned. 
As to Brigades : we spent part of the Winter at 
Winter Hill in Gen^ Sullivan's — thence we were 
removed to Roxbury, and annexed to Gen^ 
Spencer's — from thence Ave came to New York 
in Gen^ Heath's ; on our arrival we were put in 
Gen^ Lord Sterling's ; here we continued a few 
days, and were returned to Gen^ Sullivan's ; on 



NATHAN HALE. Q5 

his being sent to the Northward, we were re- 
verted to Lord Sterling's, in whose Brigade we 
now remain. In the first detachment to the 
Northward under Gen^ Thomson, Webb's regi- 
ment was put down ; but the question being 
asked whether we had many seamen, and the 
reply being yes, we were erased and another put 
down in our place. 

" We have an account of the arrival of Troops 
at Halifax, thence to proceed on their infamous 
errand to some part of America. 

" Majr Brooks informed me last evening, that 
in conversation with some of the frequenters at 
Head Quarters, he was told that Gen^ Washing- 
ton had received a packet from one of the sher- 
iffs of the city of London, in which was contained 
the Debates at large of both houses of Parlia- 
ment — and what is more, the whole proceedings 
of the Cabinet. The plan of the summer's 
Campaign in America is said to be communica- 
ted in full. Nothing has yet transpired ; but 
the prudence of our Gen^ we trust will make 
6* 



QQ NATHAN HALE. 

advantage of the Intelligence. Gen^ Gates 
(formerly Adjt Gen^ now Maj^ Gen^) is gone to 
Philadelphia probably to commnnicate the above. 

" Some late accounts from the northward are 
very unfavorable, and would be more so could 
they be depended on. It is reported that a fleet 
has arrived in the River ; upon the first notice 
of which our army thought it prudent to break 
up the siege and retire — that in retreating they 
were attack' d and routed, Numbers kill'd, the 
sick, most of the cannon and stores taken. The 
account is not authentic : We hope it is not 
true. 

" It would grieve every good man to consider 
what unnatural monsters we have as it were in 
our bowels. Numbers m this Colony, and like- 
wise in the western part of Connecticut, would 
be glad to imbrue their hands in their Country's 
Blood. Facts render this too evident to admit 
of dispute. In this city such as refuse to sign 
the Association have been required to deliver 



NATHAN HALE. 67 

up their arms. Several who refused to comply 
have been sent to prison. 

"It is really a critical Period. America be- 
holds what she never did before. Allow the 
whole force of our enemy to l3e ])ut 30,000, and 
these floating on the Ocean, ready to attack the 
most unguarded place. Are they not a formid- 
able Foe ? Surely they are." 

" New York, June 3d, 1776. 
" Dear Brother. 

" * * * Continuance or removal from 
here depends wholly upon the operations of the 
War. 

" It gives pleasure to every friend of his coun- 
try to observe the health which prevails in our 
army. Dr. Eli (Surgeon of our Reg*) told me 
a few days since, there was not a man in our 
Regt but might upon occasion go out with his 
Firelock. Much the same is said of other 
Regiments. 

" The army is every day improving in disci- 
pline, and it is hoped will soon be able to meet 



68 NATHAN HALE. 

the enemy at any kind of play. My company 
which at first was small, is now increased to 
eighty, and there is a Sergeant recruiting, who 
I hope has got the other 10 which completes 
the Company. 

"We are hardly able to judge as to the num- 
l^ers the British army for the Summer is to con- 
sist of — undoubtedly sufficient to cause us too 
much bloodshed. 

" Gen^ Washington is at the Congress, being 
sent for thither to advise on matters of conse- 
quence. 

'' I had written you a complete letter in 
answer to your last, but missed the opportunity 
of sending it. 

" This will probably find you in Coventry — if 
so remember me to all my friends — particularly 
belonging to the Family. Forget not frequently 
to visit and strongly to represent my duty to 
our good Grandmother Strong. Has she not 
repeatedly favored us with her tender, most im- 
portant advice ? The natural Tie is sufficient, 
but increased by so much goodness, our grati- 



NATHANHALE. 69 

tilde cannot be too sensible. I always with 
respect remember Mr. Huntington, and shall 
write to him if time admits. Pay Mr. Wright 
a visit for me. Tell him Asher is well — he has 
for some time lived with me as a waiter. I am 
in hopes of obtaining him a Furlough soon, that 
he may have opportunity to go home, see his 
friends, and get his Summer clothes. 

" Asher this moment told me that our Brother 
Joseph Adams was here yesterday to see me, 
when I happened to be out of the way. He is 
in Col. Parson's Reg*. I intend to see him to- 
day, and if possible by exchanging get him into 
my company. 

" Yours affectionately, N. Hale. 

" P. S. Sister Rose talked of making me 
some Linen cloth similar to Brown Holland for 
Summer wear. If she has made it desire her 
to keep it for me. My love to her, the Doctor, 
and little Joseph." 



70 NATHAN HALE. 



'' New York, Aug. 20th, 1776. 
•' Dear Brother, 

" I have only time for a hasty letter. Our 
situation has been such this fortnight or more 
as scarce to admit of writing. We have daily 
expected an action — by which means, if any one 
was going, and we had letters written, orders 
were so strict for our tarrying in camp that we 
could rarely get leave to go and deliver them. — 
For about 6 or 8 days the enemy have been 
expected hourly, whenever the wind and tide in 
the least favored. We keep a particular look 
out for them this morning. The place and 
manner of attack time must determine. The 
event we leave to Heaven. Thanks to God ! we 
have had time for compleating our works and 
receiving our reenforcements. The Militia of 
Connecticut ordered this way are mostly arrived. 
Col. Ward's Reg^ has got in. Troops from the 
Southward are daily coming. We hope under 
God, to give a good account of the Enemy when- 
ever they choose to make the last appeal. 

^' Last Friday Night, two of our fire vessels 



NATHAN HALE. 71 

(a Sloop and Schooner) made an attempt upon 
the shipping up the River. The night Avas too 
dark, the wind too slack for the attempt. The 
Schooner which was intended for one of the 
Ships had got by before she discovered them ; 
but as Providence would have it, she run athwart 
a bomb-catch, which she quickly burned. The 
Sloop by the light of the former discovered the 
Phoenix — but rather too late — however she made 
shift to grapple her, but the wind not proving 
sufficient to bring her close along side, or drive 
the flames immediately on board, the Phoenix 
after much difficulty got her clear by cutting 
her own rigging. Serg<^ Fosdick who com- 
manded the above sloop, and four of his hands, 
were of my company, the remaining two were 
of this Reg' . 

" The Gen' has been pleased to reward their 
bravery with forty dollars each, except the last 
man who (piitted the fire Sloop, who had fifty. 
Tliosc on l)oard the Schooner received the same. 



72 Nathan" HALE. 

'' I must write to some of my other brothers 
lest you should not be at home. Remain 
" Your friend and Brother 
" Mr. Enoch Hale." " N. Hale." 

Upon the day succeeding that in which the 
letter last quoted was written, Hale began again 
to note in his Diary — a practice which for some 
time just previous he had omitted — and the fol- 
lowing, in reference to the chief events of this 
and the two succeeding days, are the last brief 
entries which ever flowed from his pen. 

" Aug. 21«t. Heavy Storm at Night. Much 
and heavy Thunder. Capt. Van Wyke, a Lieut, 
and Ens. of Col^ McDougall's Reg* kill'd by a 
Shock. Likewise one man in town, belonging 
to a Militia Reg^ of Connecticut. The Storm 
continued for two or three hours, for the great- 
est part of which time [there] was a perpetual 
Lightning, and the sharpest I ever knew. 

" 22d Thursday. The Enemy landed some 
troops down at the Narrows on Long Island. 

" 23<i Friday. Enemy landed more troops — 



NATHAN HALE. 73 

News that they had marched up and taken 
Station near Flatbush, their adv^e Gds being on 
this side near the woods — that some of our 
Riflemen attacked and drove them back from 
their posts, burnt 2 stacks of hay, and it was 
thought kill'd some of them — this about 12 o'cl. 
at Night. Our troops attacked them at their 
station near Fhitb. routed and drove them back 
li mile." 

But three days more, and that storm of war 
whose portentous approaches Hale thus hur- 
riedly sketches, descended in fury — and we now 
reach the period marked by that great event 
which signalises his cliaracter, and closes his 
life. 

7 



CHAPTER lY. 

Circiiiiistances of the American and British armies when Hale 
undertook his fatal mission. The office of a spy — its danger — 
its ignomin}'. Col. Knowlton commissioned by Gen. "Wash- 
ington to i^rocure some one to undertake it. He appeals to 
American officers, and to a French serjeant in the army. 
They all refuse, save Hale, who readily volunteers for the 
duty. His fellow-officers warmly remonstrate — but in vain. 
Hale nobly persists in his piu'pose. 

To understand properly the event to wliicb 
allusion is made at the close of the last chapter, 
let us look first at the circumstances in Avhich it 
originated. 

The disastrous battle of Long Island had lieen 
fought,* and the American troops, filled with 



*It does not appear that Hale participated in this battle. He 
was however at the time, on the Long Island side. Asher 
Wright said that in the retreat to New York, one of tlie last 
things done by him was to bring over Hale's baggage. 



NATHAN HALE. 75 

despair, Iiad retreated to the Island of New 
York. As if the thunder of the British arms 
had deafened their ears to the solicitations of 
patriotism, the militia began to desert by com- 
panies, and even by entire regiments. Of those 
that remained, fresh as they were from the 
workshop and the field, a large portion was im- 
patient of restraint, and clamorous for pay. 
One-fourth of them were on the sick list. One- 
third were without tents. They had clothes, 
shoes, and l^lankets, only for a summer cam- 
paign, and winter was approaching. Food and 
forage were difficult to obtain. The military 
chest was entirely empty of money, and had 
been so for two months. In positive suffering 
then from want of supplies — without confi- 
dence — without subordination — importunate in 
complaints — the American army — fourteen thou- 
sand only fit for duty — in the early part of 
September, 1776, lay stretched along — detached, 
agitated, and full of gloom — from the Battery 
in New York far to Kingsbridge. 

And facing them from the extreme southern 



76 NATHAN HALE. 

point of Long Island to a point opposite the 
Heights of Harlem — posted at Bedford, Bnsli- 
wick, Newtown, Flnshing, and Hellgate — riding 
in ships and transports whose formidable batter- 
ies frowned on the American shores from the 
Narrows to Paulus Hook, and vip the East River 
to Flushing Bay — was arranged a British army 
of not less than twenty-five thousand men — a 
land and naval force magnificently equipped 
with artillery, military stores, and warlike mate- 
rials of every kind, for the special purpose, as 
it was proclaimed, of " looking down and ending 
forever the opposition of the rebels" — and which, 
under the command of the most able and dis- 
tinguished generals, was now in the first flush 
of victory — was haughty, emulous, impatient of 
farther conquest, and confident of success. 

What now, under these relative circumstances 
of the two armies, would be General Howe's 
next step ? It was a question, it will be seen at 
once, of infinite moment to Washington, and his 
enfeebled, dispirited army. Would the Britisli 
make a direct attack upon tlie city of New 



NATHAN HALE. 77 

York ? Or would they land above the city — at 
Turtle Bay — or Horen's Hook ? Or cross from 
Montresor's Island to Harlem? Or passing 
higher up the Sound, land at Morrisania or 
Throg's Point — or perhaps, sailing around Long 
Island, land at some point on the Main still 
farther east? Would they attempt above or 
below Kingsbridge, to cut off the communica- 
tion of the American army with the country ? 
Or was it their purpose, moving as they did fre- 
queiitly with their ships of war up the North 
River, to make a descent from this direction — 
at Bloomingdale, or elsewhere ? Or woiild they 
simultaneously land parties on the North River 
side, and the East River side — stretch across 
New York Island, and intrench themselves — 
and supporting their flanks with shipping, cut 
off the divisions of the American army, and 
hem in the town ? 

Upon the solution of these questions — with 

regard to which Washington writes, September 

sixth, '' we cannot learn, nor have we been able 

to procure the least information of late " — de- 

7* 



78 NATHAN HALE. 

pendecl at this time the fate of the American 
army. Should it — forced as it then was, in 
entire uncertainty as to the real point of attack, 
to guard very extensive lines, whose extremities 
were at least sixteen miles apart — should it be 
concentrated or not? If so, at what point? 
Should the city of New York be held and de- 
fended at all events, or evacuated in whole, or 
in part ? Should Manhattan island — lest a 
hostile landing at Kingsbridge might stake the 
Revolution on a single battle against a far supe- 
rior force — be altogether abandoned? Where, 
and to what extent, should lines and works of 
defence, intrenchments, redoubts, batteries, and 
abattis l^e established ? 

All these vital points, without precise infor- 
mation as to the enemy's designs, could not be 
settled. In vain to catch some hints of these 
designs, did American scouts venture near the 
British lines. In vain did American eyes strain 
through the darkness, when night settled upon 
the armies, in search of some Hessian deserter, 



NATHAN HALE. 79 

allured by bounty land,* who might communi- 
cate the intentions of the British generals. In 
vain did American officers convene sad and 
thoughtful around their beloved commander, 
and attempt, from the positions of the foe, to 
work out the problem of their plan. All places 
of their own encampment seemed almost equally 
menaced. All points of the British encamp- 
ment seemed almost equally supported, and 
ready to disgorge fire and death upon the brok- 
en-hearted patriots. It was the policy of Howe 
to blind — and thus far he had succeeded. 

Some one, reasoned Washington, must pene- 
trate the British camp, and lift this veil of 
secrecy, or the American army is lost — and he 
communicated this opinion to his Board of Offi- 
cers. The Board agreed fully with the views of 
the Commander in chief, and Colonel Knowlton 
was instructed to select some competent person 
for the hazardous office. 

An office not alone hazardous. What else 



* Such had been offered to deserters from the British army. 



80 « NATHAN HALE. 

was it ? To appreciate the position of Hale, it 
is necessary to dwell a moment upon it. It was 
an office also ignominious. In the judgment of 
every civilized nation, in the eye of all national 
law, the use of spies is deemed " a clandestine 
practice and deceit in war." It is a fraud un- 
worthy of an open, manly enemy — scarcely 
redeemed in motive by any exigency of danger — 
and pregnant with the worst mischief in stimu- 
lating, from a sense of betrayal, the vengeance 
of a foe, and in undermining those sentiments 
of honor, which, like shoots of sunlight upon a 
thunder-clouded sky, tend to soften the black- 
ness of war. 

The spy is the companion of darkness. He 
lurks — he hides — or if he moves in the light, it 
is behind walls, in the shadow of trees, in the 
loneliness of clefts, under the cover of hills, in 
the gloom of ditches, skulking with the owl, 
the mole, or the Indian. Or if he enters the 
camp of an enemy, he insinuates himself, and 
winds treacherously into confidence. Caught, 
his sure penalty is the halter. '' Nathan Palmer, 



NATHAN HALE. 81 

a lieutenant in your King's service," wrote 
General Putnam from his camp at Peekskill to 
Governor Tryon, " was taken in my camp as a 
spy — he was tried as a spy — and you may rest 
assured, Sir, he shall be hanged as a spy. P. S. 
Afternoon. He is hanged. '^^ This pithy, laconic 
epistle, communicating the fate of one tory agent 
of the sort of which we speak, during our 
Revolution, only too truly describes the quick 
aversion, particularly of soldiers, to all those 
who disguisedly enter a military camp to bear 
off its secrets to an enemy, and the instantane- 
ousness almost with which such persons pass 
from capture to the gallows. And yet, notwith- 
standing all this — the employment of a spy in 
some crisis of the last importance, is not judged 
unworthy a great commander. His success is 
thought most meritorious, and is followed, if 
not preceded, by honors and rewards. Only a 
sovereign may not ordinarily command the 
service — so is it deemed disgraceful — but save 
from an enemy's subjects, he may accept it when 



82 N A T H A N H A L E . 

voluntarily offered, '' without offence to honor 
or justice."* 

The exigency of the xVmerican army which 
we have just described, would not permit the 
employment, in the service proposed, of any 
ordinary soldier, unpractised in military obser- 
vation, and without skill as a draughtsman — 
least of all of the common mercenary, to whom, 
allured by the hope of large reward, such tasks 
are usually assigned. Accurate estimates of 
the numbers of the enemy, of their distribution, 
of the form and position of their various en- 
campments, of their marchings and counter- 
marchings, of their concentration at one point or 
another of the instruments of war, but more than 
all of their plan of attack, as derived from the 
open report, or the unguarded whispers in camp 
of officers or men — estimates of all these things, 
requiring a quick eye, a cool head, a practised 
pencil, military science, general intelligence, and 
pliable address, were to be made. The common 

* Vattel. 



N A T H A N H A L E . 83 

soldier would not ansA\'^er the purpose, and the 
mercenary might yield to the higher seductions 
of the enemy, and betray his employers. 

Knowlton, therefore, appealed to officers — to 
those of his own regiment, and some of others, 
assembled for the purpose — and in the name of 
the Commander in chief invited the service. 
The solemn pause which followed his appeal was 
long unljroken — and not strangely. To meet 
the enemy face to face — boldly to oppose his 
l)rea8t to the reeking sabre, the blood-red bayo- 
net, and the volleys of battle, and " foremost 
fighting fall" — here was the soldier's true place, 
and " Honor decked the turf that wrapped his 
prostrate clay." But to play the spy — the hated 
spy — and an officer to do it ! It was too irre- 
deemably humiliating — and one after another 
of the officers present, as Knowlton repeated 
his appeal individually, declined. 

His task seemed hopeless. He appealed in 
his extremity, it is said, to a French serjeant who 
had served in the French War, trusting that a 



84 NATHAN HALE. 

sense of shame in his breast less poignant, and 
the spirit, in him remarkable, for hazardous ad- 
venture, might induce him to undertake. " No ! 
no I" — he replied promptly. ^' I am ready to 
fight the British at any place and time, but I do 
not feel willing to go among them to be hung up 
like a dog! " — What was to be done ? 

From the group of reluctant, half-resentful 
officers — at the moment when all hope for the 
enterprise seemed at an end, and the heart of 
Knowlton, saddened with the thought of future 
misfortune, was fast yielding to the torture of 
disappointment — there came a voice with the 
painfully thrilling, yet cheering words — " I ivill 
undertake it!^^ That was the voice of Captain 
Nathan Hale. He had come late into the 
asseml^ly of officers. Scarcely yet recovered 
from a severe illness, his face still pale, without 
his accustomed strength of body, yet firm and 
ardent as ever of soul, he volunteered at once, 
reckless of its dano-er. and thouo^h doubtless 



NATHAN HALE. 85 

appalled, not vanquished by its disgrace, to dis- 
charge the repudiated trust. 

His family, his fellow-officers, many of them, 
remonstrated at his choice. Young, ardent, 
educated, accomplished, the darling of the sold- 
iery, the pride of his commander, why should 
he put life and reputation thus at hazard ? The 
legitimate stratagems of war are " feints and 
evasions performed under no disguise — are 
familiar to commanders — form a part of their 
plans, and executed with tact, exact admiration 
from the enemy" — but who respects the char- 
acter of a spy, assuming the gar!) of friendship 
but to betray ? " Did his country demand the 
moral degradation of her sons to advance her 
interests ? * ' Would he not have ample oppor- 
tunity, in the progress of the war, by exertions 
daily felt, " to give his talents and his life, 
should it be so ordered, to the sacred cause to 
which he was pledged ? " Why then, by one 
fatal act, crush forever " the power and the 
opportunity Heaven offered him for his country's 
8 



86 NATHAN HALE. 

glory, and his own happiness ? " Why sadden 
the hearts of his doating parents, his relatives, 
and friends — looking and expecting as they all 
were to see him climb iindisguisedly and grace- 
fully the rounds of Fame's military ladder — 
why cloud all this fond expectation with the 
dark martyrdom of a felon ? 

Such were the considerations addressed to 
Hale, with even tearful entreaty, by some of his 
brother soldiers, and by none with more assidu- 
ity than by General William Hull, then an offi- 
cer of the same grade in the army with Hale, 
and who, for three years Hale's classmate in 
College,* and his intimate afterwards in the 
camp, enforced his views with all the pride 
natural to the soldier, and with all the warmth 
of private friendship. Hear Hale's reply ! 

''I think I oive to my country the accomplish- 
ment of an object so important, and so much 
desired by the Commander of her armies — and 



* Hull Q-raduated in 1772. 



NATHAN HALE. 87 

I know no other mode of obtaining' the informa- 
tion, than by assuming a disguise, and passing 
into the enemy^s camp. I am, fully sensible of 
the consequences of discovery and capture in 
such a situation. But for a year I have been 
attached to the army, and have not rendered any 
material service, while receiving a compensation 
for which I make no return. Yet I am not 
influenced by the expectation of promotion or 
pecuniary revmrd. I wish to be useful, and 
every kind of service necessary for the public 
good, becomes honorable by being necessary. 
If the exigencies of my country demand a pecu- 
liar service, its claims to the performance of 
that service are imperious I ^^ 

He spoke, says Hull, " with warmth and de- 



cision 



I " 



What grandeur of self-sacrifice — what appre- 
ciation intense as rare, of the obligations of 
duty — what glorious abandonment of fear even 
where fear is deemed a virtue — what sublime 
confidence in the redeeming power of a holy 



OQ N A T H A N H A L E . 

purpose — immortalize these the words of the 
martyr Hale, as he respectfully coufronts the 
solicitatious of his friends, and firmly, move- 
lessly, bolts and bars himself within his noble 
resolution ! 

True, military pride , revolts at the disgrace 
which I propose to undergo, he reasons. True, 
the mean death that aAvaits me with the enemy, 
under the sanction of national law, should I 
fail in the undertaking. True, my kindred, my 
friends, all to whom I am bound by the sweet 
ties of love, may have to mourn my loss in an 
employment from which all dreams of greatness 
flee. But pressing as are all these considera- 
tions — delicate and hazardous, in every view, as 
is the task — " the soldier should never consult 
his fears when duty calls." 

It is the wish of the Commander in chief. 
Would he ask svicli a service — and from an 
officer — if he did not deem it utterly ^dtal to 
the army ? The gloom which a triumphal foe 
casts over the American cause is awful — if the 



NATHAN HALE. 89 

spy can lift it, why not the end sanctify the 
means, and I that spy — I that have not been 
able hitherto "to render any material service?" 
The liberty of three millions of people, freshly 
risen to vindicate their rights, and now rocking 
at hazard in the stormy cradle of war, is staked 
on the particular enterprise in prospect. Its 
solitude, its darkness, its craft, its hypocrisy, its 
waste and sacrifice of the soldier's honor, its 
last horrible penalty — may these not all be vin- 
dicated by the patriotic spirit with which they 
may be endured, and by the glorious boon which 
it may be the spy's fortune to offer to his bleed- 
ing, imperilled country? The importance of 
the service outweighs every other considera- 
tion — "I go!" — And he presented himself to 
General Washington. 



CHAPTER V. 

Hale, aftei- receiving instructions from General Washington, 
starts upon his expedition, accompanied by Stephen Hemp- 
stead, a confidential soldier of his OAvn company. They 
reach Norwalk, Connecticut. Hale here assumes a disguise, 
parts with his companion, and leaves for Long Island in the 
sloop Huntington, Captain Pond. Safe passage across the 
Sound. His journey to New York, and its risks. 

Receiving from the Commander in chief partic- 
ular instructions, and a general order upon all 
the American sloops or galleys in the Sound to 
convey him across to any point upon Long Island 
which he should designate, Hale, about the mid- 
dle of September, bearing in his hands materials 
for a disguise, and accompanied by Stephen 
Hempstead, a confidential soldier of his own com- 
pany, left the Camp at Harlem Heights, intend- 
ing to cross the Sound by the first opportunity. 

Many vessels of the enemy were at this time 
cruising along East River, and in the Sound. 
Their guns might be heard, at frequent inter- 



NATHAN HALE. 91 

vals, reverberating along the Main as some 
adventurous Yankee craft, small boat or galley, 
glided out from some bay or inlet, and provoked 
pursuit. Hostile scouting and forage parties 
too, lined the Long Island shore, and no friendly 
flag appeared — not even one of those little pri- 
vateering whaleboats, whose press-gangs or crews 
of well armed volunteers, so often at this period, 
and sometimes so uncavalierly, annoyed the 
British and tories — until Hale and his compan- 
ion reached Norwalk, fifty miles up the Sound 
on the Connecticut shore. Here they found 
one or two row-galleys, and the armed sloop 
Huntington, commanded by Captain Pond. The 
sloop. Hale quickly engaged. 

Thus far he had come upon a friendly shore — 
among his own countrymen — where here and 
there only some powerless tory shrank from his 
sight as he glided by in the undress of a Conti- 
nental officer.* He was now to pass to a shore 

* " He had on a frock, when I last saw him, made of white 
linen, and fringed, such as officers used to wear. He was too 



92 NATHAN HALE. 

occupied, or controlled to a great extent, by the 
British and their abettors. How then disguise 
himself? What character should he assume as 
best calculated to lull suspicion, and promote 
the opportunities he desired ? He decided upon 
one to him perfectly familiar — in which his own 
experience had given him ease and self-posses- 
sion, and which from its unassu.ming and some- 
what itinerant nature, was calculated, in those 
days when men rarely stirred abroad without 
watchwords and passes, to engender confidence, 
or at least not to awaken an active jealousy. 
He was to play the Schoolmaster ! * 

Stripping off his uniform then, he placed it, 
together with his military commission, and all 
the papers he had with him, public or private, 
save perhaps one to be shortly mentioned, in the 
hands of his companion Hempstead. To these 

good looking to go so. He could not deceive. Some scrubby 
fellow ought to have gone." Testimony of Ashei- Wright. 

* Hempstead says that Hale told him he intended to pla}^ 
" the Dutch Schoolmaster." Probably so — not seriously, how- 
ever — but only by way of jest. 



NATHAN HALE. 98 

he added his silver shoe buckles, remarking that 
these " would not now comport with his character 
as Schoolmaster." His watch also he is reported 
to have handed to his friend, but after a moment 
of reflection to have resumed it, with the dec- 
laration that "he would risk his watch where 
he would risk his life" — as if satisfied that no 
treachery lurked in that little unostentatious 
monitor of time, especially in the hands of one, 

" Who in some noisy mansion, skilled to rule, 
As village master taught his little school." 

Putting on a plain suit of citizen's brown 
clothes, and a round broad-brimmed hat, and 
retaining, it is said, as an introduction to his 
assumed calling, his college diploma — the class- 
ical vellum on which the Reverend Doctor 
Napthali Daggett had certified his Baccalaur- 
eate — he leaped on board the sloop after the 
night had fallen, bade his friend, with a cheerful 
voice, await his return, or news from him at 
Norwalk, and was soon under way, the patriot 



94 NATHAN HALE. 

spy, with a cool head, and a bold lieart, for the 
head of Huntington Bay. 

His passage across the Sound was prosperous, 
and about two hours before daybreak, the little 
craft which bore him, gliding midway between 
Eaton and Lloyd's Xecks, hove to near the shore 
of East or Great Neck — an elevated tract of 
land remarkable for its extensive, and pictur- 
esque, but then lonely scenery, on the east side 
of the harbor of Huntington. 




A. Place where Hale landed, and probable place of his capture. 

A boat was immediately lowered. Hale took 
his station in the stern, and four stout oarsmen 
propelled him quickly to the shore. The point 
where he landed was a neighborhood known as 



NATHAN HALE. 95 

"the CedarSy*^ and is still so called at the pres- 
ent day. One Jesse Fleet had there a farm — 
still, we understand, in the tenure of his fam- 
ily — and near his dwelling stood that also of 
Widow Rachel Chichester, familiarly called 
" Mother Chich " — who, herself a loyalist, made 
her house a rendezvous, somewhat famous, for 
all the tories of her region. Hale passed this 
dangerous vicinity in safety, and following the 
course of a road which led from the beach 
towards a settlement on the east side of Hunt- 
ington harl.)or, after about a mile's walk, reached, 
in the centre of a large field, the residence of 
Mr. William Johnson. Attracted by a light 
streaming through a window. Hale, it is affirm- 
ed on good authority, approached the house 
with a quick and assured step. The door was 
opened by Mr. Johnson himself, who, " after a 
confidential interview, gave Hale such informa- 
tion as his case required, and the comforts also 
of a hearty breakfast, and a bed to rest upon 
for a few hours. When the morning had some- 



96 NATHAN HALE. 

what advanced," says the account from which 
we derive these facts, "the stranger departed." 

Whither now, particularly — by what routes — 
with what experiences ? Would it not be pleas- 
ant to know? 

We have no means, however, of tracing his 
progress hence to New York, and back to the 
point of his capture. His risk — his watchful- 
ness — his fatigue — his hurry — his delays — his 
skill of imposture — his anxiety of mind — his suf- 
fering from cold — his loss of sleep — his bivouac 
by the rock, the fence, upon the tree or in the 
ditch — his stealthy noting of posts, situations, 
numbers, plans, by the glare of day, or by the 
dim moon-light, or flickering lantern — his delu- 
sion of patrols and guards — his conciliation of 
camps — all these the particulars of that vital 
quest in which Hale was engaged, we are left, 
in the dearth of any memorials, to conjecture. 

Yet we are assured that his survey was accu- 
rate and successful. We know that, when 
taken, exact drawings of the works of the 
enemy, with accompanying descriptions and 



NATHAN HALE. 97 

notes, were found between the soles of his 
pumps. We know that several days elapsed 
between his departure from the American camp 
and his capture.* We know that before he 
reached New York, the British Line had landed 
two miles above the city at Kip's Bay — that 
Oeneral Howe with one portion of his victorious 
troops occupied the town — that General Clinton 
with another portion, higher up, between "the 
seventh and eighth milestones," lay stretched 
across the whole island from the East to the 
North River — while other portions of the foe 
still covered important points upon Long Island, 
reaching from Red Hook to Flushing Bay, and 
from Brooklyn far back, in patrolling and forag- 
ing parties, into the interior. We know also 

* " Capt. Hale went away — was gone about a fortnight before 
I knew what was become of him. — When he left us, he told me 
he had got to be absent awhile, and wanted I should take care 
of his things, and if the army moved before he returned, have 
them moved too. — When he went away, he did not tell me 
where he was going." Testimony of Aaher Wright . 

9 



98 NATHAN HALE. 

that Hale was not taken until, having achieved 
his purpose, he was far back on his return to 
the American camp. 

He must, therefore, have passed through the 
entire British army. It is not difficult then, 
under these circumstances, to conceive his posi- 
tions and occupation. 

He must have encountered on his way En- 
glish, Highlanders, Waldeckers, and Hessians, 
tories and refugees, British sutlers and marau- 
ders, armed and unarmed, and been exposed 
momently to the peril of detection. Now by 
day, as he passed through Queen's County, we 
can see him listening from some place of con- 
cealment to the echo of the British Lighthorse, 
as they galloped past in pursuit of some leading 
whigs — now watching some company of British 
Foot, as they scoured the country in search of 
grain, or lay quartered around some magazine 
of forage — now, remote from the road, interro- 
gating some Cowboy about the latest news from 
camp — now upon the highway communicating 
with some teamster impressed to carry hay and 



^^^ Jl i 



/^'^-^ 



m^^ 
W^ 




NATHAN HAL K. 99 

straw to New York — now in some solitary farm- 
house questioning some billeted soldier of the 
foe over an evening mug of cider. 

Now, as he approached the chief encampments, 
we can see him straining his gaze at squads of 
the enemy as they fortified their field-works, or 
mustered and marched. Now by night he is 
counting at a distance their fires, and listening 
to the hum of their tents, or walking in the 
black hours from watch to watch to receive the 
secret whispers of their fixed sentinels. Now, 
probably, while the badge of loyalty, a red rib- 
bon, or a strip of red flannel, streamed from his 
hat, he ventures within the very bosom of their 
camps, and there, smiling the tory, seems to 
unite heartily in the coarse jibe and laugh at the 
expense of those whose cause he served — or cat- 
echised, perhaps, in his profession as a School- 
master by some group of jesting Redcoats, 

" to see how much he knew, 
If he coukl read and cipher too," 

he responds to all their raillery with a loose 

grace, and specimens of his attainments. 

9* 



100 NATrfAN HALE. 

Now ill .the city of New York, occupied, every 
street of it, more or less, with British soldiers bil- 
leted in houses left vacant by the Whigs, he cau- 
tiously pursues his way — exposed each instant, 
as was every citizen at the time who went abroad, 
to the peril of arrest, and of confinement if his 
loyalty could not at once be made out — or to the 
chance, perhaps, of being hung up at the first 
convenient post, from a misapprehension of his 
character, or a conviction that he sympathized 
with the rebels — or liable to be sent to siiffer and 
starve w4th the Long Island prisoners in the old 
" Sugar House," from whose fearful gateway the 
"Dead Cart" already bore its daily morning 
freight of victims, six or eight in number — but 
through all these varied positions, at each peri- 
lous moment for observation, "interpreting all 
motions, looks, and eyes," he resolutely pursues, 
and works out that problem of the British plan 
given him by his beloved Commander in chief, 
whose solution, it was thought and hoped, would 
prove the salvation of his country. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Hale starts on liis return to the Aiuorican Cain[). Ucaelics the 
" Cedars," lEast Neck, Huntington, L. I., Avliere he is cap- 
tured. His behaviour on tlic occasion. Is carried to New 
York. The great fire in the city at the time. Is inmicdiately 
taken before Gen. Howe. • Tlie head-quarters, appearance, 
and cliaracter of the British Commander-in-chief. Hale's 
heroic conduct upon his examination. Is condemned as a 
spy, and is to he hung, '' at daybreak the next mornh);/." 

From the midst of all these dangers, Hale 
started — undetected and unharmed — on his 
return to the American camp. Crossing the 
East River, proljably at Brooklyn, he threaded 
his way back through the woods, and around all 
the British posts and parties upon Long Island, 
until he reached in safety tliat point on the shore 
near Huntington where he first landed, and 
where it had l)eon arranged tliat a boat of his 
own countrymen sliould meet liim, and set liim 
over to the Connecticut Main. 



102 NATHAN HALE. 

There he is now at ''the Cedars" — alone. It 
was morning — early — the time of his arrival at 
this point. It was also still — a solitude com- 
pared with the country he had left behind him. 
His ear could not perceive the echo of one hos- 
tile tread, nor did he dream, at such a time and 
place, remote as he tliought himself from any 
British station, that he could be intercepted. 
He started forth to reconnoitre, expecting be- 
hind some sheltering headland, in some snug 
inlet, or within some little channel thick cano- 
pied with trees and bushes, to find the wished 
for boat. 

It did not, however, immediately appear — 
and feeling secure in his treble disguise of dress^ 
manner, and conversation. Hale betook himself 
for a while, according to one account of the 
transaction, to that tory rendezvous of which 
w^e have already spoken — the tavern of '' Mother 
Chich " * — and from this point Avas soon betrayed. 



* Doctor Ray, of Huntington, Long Island, who has given 
much attention to Hale's fate, says that in a few days after 
Hale left ^h: Johnson, having- during the nUermediate time 



NATHAN HALE. lOS 

According to another account, he continued his 
lookout along the shore for the expected l)oat 

passed through Long Island to New York City and returned by 
the same route, making memoranda of the information he had 
gathered, he again appeared at the Cedars, and feeling secure in 
the simplicity of his dress, as well as in his disguised manner, 
and address, entered the tavern of Widow Chichester, familiar- 
ly called Mother Chich. "A number of persons," proceeds 
Dr. Ray, "were seated in the room, and, as he had to wait 
several hours for the appearance of a boat to convey him away, 
he trusted to his ready powers of conversation to make himself 
agreeable, and to avert suspicion. A moment after, a man 
with a familiar face left the room. 

''Long before the time had elapsed for the arrival of the ves- 
sel expected by the stranger, Widow Chichester suddenly an- 
nounced to her guests that a strange boat was seen approaching 
the shore. This news produced consternation and scampering- 
among the loyalists, while the breast of tlie stranger thrilled 
with joy, as he left the bar-room for the beach, where the boat 
had already struck. Soon he found himself within range of 
several muskets pointed at him — while a voice cried out, ' Sur- 
render or die ! ' 

"In a moment of surprise he was seized by what jirovcd to 
be a party from a British armed vessel lying around tlic ])oint 
of Lloyd's neck, out of view from the Cedars. To his mortifi- 
cation and astonishment, he discovered among the boat's crcAV 



104 nath'an hale. 

lip to the very moment of his capture. Be 
these circumstances as they may have Ijeen, all 
tlie accounts we have received agree, in the 
main, as to the manner in which he was finally 
seized — and it was as we sliall now narrate. 

A Imrge, to all appearance such an one as 
Hale was expecting, quietly impelled, was seen 
approaching the shore. Confident of the friend- 
ly cliaracter of the crew, and expecting to receive 
at once a hearty welcome, Hale walked deliber- 
ately down to the water side — when lo ! to his 
utter surprise, as the barge struck the shore, 
she proved to be British ! 

the very person who had so suddenly left the tavern as he en- 
tered the door, and whom he now recognized as an unworthy 
relative. 

"Longer concealment was useless, and the stranger avowed 
himself to be Nathax Hale. He left the American Camp, 
at Harlem Hciglits, at the re(picst of Gen. Washington, to ascer- 
tain the condiriou of the British forces on Long Island. He 
was taken to Nfw York by water, examined l)y Gen. Howe, and 
condemned to be hung as a spy, whicli SL-utenee was carried into 
ctfcct the next day with circumstances of aggravated cruelty, 
by Capt. Cunningham, the Provost Marshal.'' 



N A T H A N H A L E . 1 UO 

He attempted at once to retrace his steps. 
A loud summons commanded him to stop. He 
glanced over his shoulder, and saw the whole 
crew now standing erect, and levelling at him 
with their muskets. " Surrender or die ! " — an 
imperious voice exclaimed. He was close within 
reach. Their shot would inevitably prove fatal. 
Escape was impossible. He turned, and com- 
plying with tlieir command, passed on board the 
barge. The guardship to which she belonged — 
the Halifax, Captain Quarme — and from which, 
it is said, she had been sent ashore for water — 
lay off at a little distance, hid from sight by the 
intervening point of Lloyd's Neck. To the 
deck of this armed vessel Hale was soon trans- 
ferred — at last, and at the very moment when 
his heart was palpitating with triumph at his 
supposed success — a prisoner. 

No suspicion at first, it has been stated, was 
entertained of his true character, till he was 
unfortunately met and recognised by a fellow- 
countryman and a relative, a tory and renegade, 
who, divulging his previous life and actual 



106 NATHAN HALE. 

situation in the Continental Army, and cor- 
roborating his statements in part by the pro- 
duction of Hale's college diploma, infamously 
betrayed him. Be this account true or not — 
and we are fully inclined to the opinion that 
it is not — the fact of Hale's arrest at the point 
described seems well made out, and as his cap- 
tors stripped and searched him, the plans and 
memoranda found in his pumps proved his 
strong accusers.* What had he — a plain School 
master — to do with laborious profiles of intrench- 
ments, forts, fieldworks, and batteries — and these 
exact counterparts of those occupied and manned 
by the royal army ? Why write his notes — and 
in the suspicious society of military draughts — 
in Latin — a contrivance, it was thought, disguis- 
ing and unintelligible to the world generally as 
the mysterious ciphers of correspondence, or 
the anaglyphs of the pyramids ? Why too was 

* " They stopped him, searched, and found drawings of the 
works, with descriptions in Latin, under the inner sole of the 
pumps which lie wore," Testimony of Asher Wriylit. 



NATHAN HALE. 107 

the prisoner at a point so remote — alone, and 
hardly day-break — and why did he retreat at 
first with such obvious disappointnjent from his 
captors ? 

Here was an indictment difficult to meet. 
How Hale attempted to meet it at first, we know 
not — probably with ingenious pretences, and the 
semblance of simplicity, with careless self-pos- 
session, and conciliating jocularity. But even 
the rudest sailor could interpret the facts. Hale 
must be a spy. As such Captain Quarme 
treated him, though with kindness, we are 
assured — won l)y the noble traits of his char- 
acter, and regretting, as he afterwards said, 
"' that so fine a fellow had fallen into his power." 
As such, he soon sent him, as was his custom 
with prisoners, to New York, in one of the boats 
of the Halifax — l)ack, under the guard of a 
detachment of his captors bearing the evidences 
of his guilt, to that city, swarming with his 
foes, from which he had just escaped. 

It was Saturday, the twenty-first of Septem- 
ber, when Hale reached liis destination — a day 



108 NATHAN HALE. 

long to be remembered in American annals, not 
only as that which decided the fate of the pat- 
riot we describe, but also for the horror and 
alarm, from<another event, in the midst of which 
his fearful sentence was past. New York, that 
day, after two o'clock in the morning, was on fire. 
From Whitehall Slip the devouring element — 
fanned by a violent southwest wind, and unpro- 
vided against by any force of engines — shooting 
aloft its hot clouds of smoke lurid with sparks, 
and hurling its fiery flakes in every direction 
among wooden buildings — came roaring and 
leaping along both sides up Broadway — mounted 
the spires of Trinity Church, as if to signalise 
its triumph to the whole adjoining country — 
and in one insufferable wave of blaze, rolled on 
towards St. Paul's — till beyond, near Barclay 
Street, arrested by the College Green and a 
change of wind, it stopped at last, having laid 
four hundred and ninety-three houses, nearly one- 
third of the city, in ashes. The dark confusion 
of that morning and day as the British soldiers 



NATHAN HALE. 109 

fought the flames — the peal of the alarm bells — 
the loud shouting of voices in wonder and terror, 
mingled with the louder roar of timbers, walls, 
and roofs, as they cracked, rocked, and tumbled 
to the ground — had hardly yet subsided — the 
l)road sky itself not long lost its startling sem- 
blance of conflagration — when the guard with 
Hale, landing probably at one of the slips of 
the city, started to seek the prisoner's judge, the 
British Commander in chief. 

General Howe, at this time, had his quarters 
near Turtle Bay, on the East River, at Mount 
Pleasant — the then family seat of James Beek- 
man Esquire, a sterling Whig, who, on the near 
approach of the British army, had retreated with 
his family for security to Esopus. The old man- 
sion which he occupied, and which Avas subse- 
quently occupied by General Clinton and British 
officers of rank — and among the rest by Andre, 
on the very night before he went up the Hudson 
on his ill-fated expedition — stood three and a 
quarter miles from the present City Park of 
10 



110 NATHAN HALE. 

New York, and at the corner of the present 
fifty-first street and first avenue — -a spot just dis- 
tant enough from the Provost Jail, and old Sugar 
House, to save the knightly ears of the British 
Commander in chief from the wailings of Amer- 
ican prisoners, and the profane echoes of his 
own cavalry in the churches, and yet in conven- 
ient location to hear the reports of his officers, 
as one after another some captive of note, or 
citizen of questionable loyalty, was brought i\\) 
from the city for examination. The building is 
still standing, with the original decorations, blue 
and gold, of the room occupied by General Clin- 
ton yet unchanged — and near it stood a green- 
house — an airy apartment, that at the time 
of which we speak, had a shingle roof, Avas 
empty of plants, and is reported and believed 
by many descendants of Mr. Beekman to have 
been the spot where Hale received his sentence. 
Be this as it may, there can be no question but 
that General Howe had his quarters at Mount 
Pknisant at the time of Hale's condemnation — 



NATHAN HALE. Ill 

and thither, beyond all reasonable doubt, to tlie 
mansion house, or the green-liouse adjacent, the 
young captive was taken.* 

Tall, graceful, dignified, as was General 
Howe — in personal appearance much resembling 

* Among otiier proofs of the facts stated in the text are the 
following. 

1. Jerome B. Hohjate, in his American Genealogy, says: 
" Three miles from the City Hall [New York] stands an old 
mansion built by James Beekman, and occupied by British offi- 
cers during the war. One room near the head of tlie stairs 
was occupied by Andre, the night before he went up the River, 
on his ill-fated expedition ; and (strange Providence !) hut a few 
yards distant still stands the green-house where Captain Nathan 
Hale of the American army received his trial and condemnation." 

2. Two letters from Hon. James W. Beekman of New York, 
grandson of James Beekman mentioned in the text, and present 
owner of the premises in question. Mr. Beekman has carefully 
scrutinized all the circumstances in the case, and as to the Head 
Quarters of Gen. Howe, at the time under consideration, says to 
the writer, " I consider, Avith you, the fact clearl}^ established 
that they were on the 21st Sept. 1776, at my Grandfather's — 
corner of fifty-first street and first avenue, at present." The gar- 
dener of James Beekman made a cofemporaneous record of the 
fact. 



112 NATHAN HALE. 

Washington, yet with features more pointed, 
and in temper sharp and harsh towards the 
unfortunate patriots who fell in his power — it 
was not, we may believe, without something of 
awe, and a dark anticipation of his fate, that 
Hale found himself ushered into the sombre 
presence of his judge. 

Tlie charge was soon made — the proof pro- 
duced. What said the youthful prisoner then? 
Did he explain, prevaricate, deny — throw himself 
on the laws of war, and demand trial by a Court 
Martial — that right accorded to every military 
offender save a mutineer? Did he continue 
still to wear the semblance of the Schoolmaster, 
and inventing time, place, and name, resolutely 
offer to prove the genuineness of his profession ? 
Or playing the loyalist and tory, did he suppli- 
cate to ' swear in' his hatred of the rebels, and 
his fealty to King George ? Or, taking advan- 
age of Howe's thirst for raising provincial troops, 
and of the King's bounty, in confiscated lands, 
houses, money, and in honors, to those of his 



NATHAN HALE. 113 

countrymen who would recruit the royal army — 
did he profess his readiness to co-operate there- 
after, heartily, "in suppressing the unnatural 
rebellion in North America," and at once for 
this purpose to join the company of some " Royal 
American Regiment," or "Prince of Wales' 
American Volunteers," or "King's American 
Dragoons"* — a course which, doubtless, in the 
peculiar exigency of the British general at that 
time, would have saved the life of the spy, since 
we find it afterwards protecting even such mal- 
efactors as robbers and murderers?! Or, his 
young heart crushed and riven by the horror of 
his situation — the memories of home, and love 

* The actual names of American regiments raised during the 
war for the British service. 

t "The provincial corps," or soldiers raised in America, were 
frequently abandoned men, fugitives from justice, who enlisted 
to escape punishment. Even such recruits were hard to be 
obtained at a high bounty ; and if they committed a crime, the 
otHcers were loth to lose them, or give them up to punish- 
ment — to replace them was so difficult." Otu/erdoiil's Rei'oL 
fncidents of Qnf^en's Count tj, p. 182. 

10* 



114 NATHAN HALE. 

of life, pleading too keenly and powerfully in 
his bosom — did he appeal to the benignity, the 
compassion, to the mercy of his judge? 

Nothing — nothing of all this — though his sit- 
uation — so varied are the chances of life, such 
and so many the happy accidents that snatch us 
from the grave — was not yet all bereft of hope. 
Open and sincere as he was by nature — incapa- 
ble, save for the high patriotic end he then pur- 
sued, of delusion, and already overweary proba- 
bly of the burden of deceit — his conscience too, 
before an august tribunal, and under staggering 
circumstances, impelling him, too sensitively 
perhaps, to resume his wonted truthful charac- 
ter — Hale frankly, and at once, acknowledged 
his mission — confessed himself an American 
officer and a spy — proudly yet respectfully sta- 
ted his success — ^l^emoaned that his hope of serv- 
ing his country was now suddenly cut off — and 
stood calm and fearless before his judge — await- 
ing his decision. 

That decision was soon made. A piece of 



NATHAN HALE. 115 

paper — a pen — ink — a few lines — and under the 
initials of " George Rex," and by the hand and 
seal at arms of William Howe Commander in 
chief, William Cunningham, Provost Marshal 
of the Royal Army, was directed to receive into 
his custody the body of Nathan Hale, a cap- 
tain in the rebel army, that day convicted as a 
spy — and further, to see him hung by the neck 
until dead, "to-morrow-morning at daybreak."* 

* There can be no doubt that a fonnal wan-ant, in purport 
the same with that described in the text, was given by Howe. 
Such appertained to his function as Commander, Such apper- 
tained to the function of Cunningham as Provost Marshal. Such 
were entered by Cimningham in his Records, which lie habitually 
kept for his own justification, and official report. That in the 
text is given, almost verbatim, by Buckingham, the author of 
Ecvolutionary Talcs in the New York Sunday Times — in his 
Sketch of Hale — whether from copy of the actual warrant, or 
from the imagination of what it must have been, we know not. 
Of its substantial correctness, however, we entertain no doubt. 



CHAPTER VII. 

A reflection. Hale unappalled. His confinement after sentence. 
His jailor and executioner, William Cunningham, Provost 
Marshal of the British Army. Cmel treatment of Hale. 
His gloomy situation. His noble endurance. Writes letters 
to his friends, and prepares himself, sublimely, for the catas- 
trophe. Is taken out to die. The brutal Provost jNIarshal 
tauntingly demands from him a dying speech. That speech! 
The fatal swing. 

^'•To-morrow-morning- at daybreak !^^ How 
quick to die ! The sands of life left how few ! 
The interval for thought, recollection, for last 
memorializing wish, if pity were not turned to 
stone, how cruelly brief! And yet this sudden- 
ness of sentence — these startling inches only of 
life's space ere the soul's last plunge — forced not 
one word of remonstrance — not a complaining 



NATHAN HALE. 117 

look — not a quiver, even involuntary, of fear — 
from the condemned patriot — and under a strong 
guard, he was borne from tlie presence of his 
judge. 

Whither? To some barrack, or tent, or build- 
ing adjacent to the quarters of Howe — or to the 
Provost ? It is impossible to tell with any cer- 
tainty — so meagre is History on this point, and 
the few facts she offers are so vague and con- 
flicting.* If confined near the spot of his con- 

* Yet these facts incline — a few of them strongly — to the 
Provost as the prison of Hale. This building was then in use 
as a jail. It was a recejitacle for offenders who were most noto- 
rious. It was the safest of all places in which to keep a prisoner. 
It was adjacent to the spot where public executions at this period 
usually took place. Tradition, quite uniformly, points to it 
as the prison of Hale, Two old gentlemen of Lyme, Connecti- 
cut, who died several years ago, and who were men of integrity, 
stated, we are asssurcd, that they saw Hale there the night 
before his execution. A Hessian straggler, passing through 
Coventry just after the event, told a Mr. Brigham with whom 
he staid over night, that he saw Hale hung in New York City, 
near Chambers [then Barrack] street. Upon the whole we are 
strongly inclined to think that the Provost was his prison — and a 



118 NATftAN HALE. 

demiiatioii, an armed British guard, of course, 
paced around him, and clattered their muskets, 
and rung their dread watchwords in upon his 
bondage. But if taken down to the Provost, as 
was most probabl}^ the case, the ear of the cap- 
tive was filled and agonized with other and more 
afflictive sounds — with the echo of bolts and 
bars through black prison vaults — with the cease- 
less clank of chains — with the wail of captive 
countrymen of his own — and with the felon's 
muttered curse. 

It was a gloomy, terrific abode indeed — that 
jail — the Provost ! Destined for the more noto- 
rious rebels, civil, naval, and military — it stood 
upon the eastern boundary of the Park, about 

spot ii(ljoinin<i-, tlic place of his execution — though the facility 
with which executions were etfected at this period — upon a 
tree, or at a lamp post — at the first convenient point — in or out 
of the presence of the Army — and the distance of three miles 
which intervened between Hale's j)lace of trial and the Provost — 
and the fact that Cunningham often moved about with the Brit- 
ish army, from place to place — cause our judgment in the mat- 
ter somewhat to waver. 



NATHAN HALE. 119 

midway, at a time when this enclosure had 
within it neither City Hall or Almshouse. The 
building stands there now^ — and is the present 
Hall of Records. Two sentinels guarded, day 
and night, its entrance door. Two more were 
posted at its first and second barricades, which 
were grated, barred, and chained. Others watch- 
ed at its rear door, or upon platforms on flights of 
steps which led to rooms and cells in the second 
and third stories. It was surrounded by a yard — 
back of which — on the present site of the old 
Almshouse — was a range of barracks — and 
beyond these, on the upper side of Chambers 
street between Broadway and Centre, an old 
Burying-yard, which long served both as a place 
of execution, and as a last resting-place for the 
dead of the neighboring prison. At the time of 
which wo speak, it was under the charge of a 
Commissary to whom we have already alluded — 
William Cunningham — a man than whom none 
mm-e infamous for cruelty ever disgraced the 
annals of any prison upon earth. Associated 



120 NATHAN HALE. 

as he darkly was with the patriot whose fate 
we commemorate, let us pause here just a mo- 
ment for his portrait. 

A large, lusty Irishman — of rough, forbid- 
ding aspect — having served early in life in 
the British Dragoons, he came to New York 
before the Revolution, and when the war broke 
out, becoming at once a tory and a renegade, 
joined Sir William Howe, and was by him 
appointed Provost Marshal of the British army. 
Avaricious — cruelly so — he at times dosed his 
prisoners with arsenic in their flour, "for the 
sake of cheating his king and country by contin- 
uing for a time to draw their nominal rations."* 
Wonted to sit in his quarters at the Provost, 
opposite the guard-room on the right hand of 

* He was only restrained from putting them to death in a 
more violent way, it is said, "five or six of them of a night, 
baek of the prison yard, by the distress of certain women in the 
neighborhood, who, pained by the cries for mercy which thev 
heard, went to the commander in chief, and made the case known, 
with entreaties to spare the lives of the sufferers in future." 
Watson'>i Olden Times in the City of New York. 



NATHAN HALE. 121 

the main door, and drink punch till his brain 
was on fire — he would then stagger out into the 
corridors — followed often by his negro Richmond, 
the common hangman, with coils of rope about his 
neck — and pouring forth volleys of tempestuous 
abuse on the wretched sufferers who happened to 
be outside their cells, drive the " dogs," as he 
called them, back to their "kennels," the "rebel 
spawn," as he varied it, "in to their holes" — or 
vent his spite, as he passed up and down the 
hall, by kicking over vessels of soup which the 
charitable sometimes placed there for poor and 
friendless captives — or clanking his keys, reel to 
the door of the prison, and strain his drunken 
gaze for fresh victims. Such another victim — 
on the night of the twenty-first of Septemljer, 
1776 — either at the Provost, or at the head quar- 
ters of General Howe — he found in Captain 
Nathan Hale — and such was the ruffian jailor 
and executioner whom Hale found in William 
Cunningham ! 

On receiving his prisoner, Cunningham, accor- 
ding to his custom, questioned him minutely as 
11 



122 N A T H A*N HALE. 

to his name, rank, size, and age,* read the war- 
rant for his death, and ordered him to be rigidly 
confined. Hale calmly requested that his hands 
might be iinpinioned, and that he might l^e fur- 
nished with writing materials and a light. He 
wanted, he said, to address a few lines to his 
parents and friends. The request was at first 
brutally refused. He asked for a Bible, that he, 
a dying man, might receive the last holy conso- 
lations of the religion which he professed. This 
request too was met at first with coarse denial — 
with curses too, it is highly probable, on the 
stupidity of last hour repentances, and impious 
taunts of tortures beyond the grave for all trait- 
ors to their king.f But there was one heart 

* " When a prisoner, escorted bv soldiers, was led into the 
hall, the whole guard was paraded, and he was delivered over, 
with all formalitr, to Capt. Cunningham or his deputy, and 
questioned as to his name, rank, size, age, &c., all of which were 
entered in a record-hook." Dunlap's Hist. N. York, Vol. II., 
p. 137. 

t Cunningham's brutal demeanor is strikingly illustrated in 
the case of another son of Connecticut, the Rev. Moses Mather 



NATHAN HALE. 123 

near, which for a moment tlirobbed with pity 
for the prisoner — so young, so graceful, so treat- 
ed, yet so mild, so firm, so soon to die, and — 
alone! Mov^ed in spite of himself, the young 



D. D., of Daricn, Conn. This exemplary and distinguished 
divine, July twenty-second, 1781, was taken captive with about 
forty of his congregation, while worshipping on the Sabbath, by 
a party of British troops consisting chiefly of tory refugees, 
which came over from Long Island, and suddenly surrounded 
the Church. The following extract from Barber's Historical 
Collections of Connecticut, shows his subsequent treatment. 

" Dr. Mather having been taken into New York, was confined 
in the Pi-ovost Prison. Here his food was stinted, and wretched 
to a degree not easily imaginable. His lodging corresponded 
with his food. His company, to a considerable extent, was 
made up of mere rabble ; and their conversation, from which he 
could not retreat, was composed of profaneness and ribaldry. 
Here also he was insulted daily liy the Provost Marshal, whose 
name was Cunninr/ham — a wretch remembered in this country 
only witli detestation. This wretch, with other kinds of abuse, 
took a particular satisfaction in announcing from time to time 
to Dr. Mather, that on that day, the morrow, or some other time 
at a little distance, he was to be executed. 

" But Dr. Mather was not without his friends — friends, how- 
ever, who kncAv nothing of him, except his character. A lady 
of distinction, [the mother of Washington Irving, according to 



124 NATHAN HALE. 

Lieutenant of Hale's guard interfered in his 
behalf, it is said, earnestly — and was so far suc- 
cessful as to procure for him the privilege of 
writing. With pen, ink and paper therefore, a 
light, and hands unmanacled, he was thrust, 
late it would seem in the night, into some 
separate abode — some lonely tent — or gloomy 
barrack — or desolate chamber — or grated cell — 
and for a while, was left to himself. 

There, without a friend — without the solace of 
even one kind word — without the glimmer even 
of a hope of escape — on the verge of an ignomin- 
ious death — for the last time, to transcribe for 
those he loved the deep emotions of his heart ! 
There in the dread twilight of eternity — not as 
it creeps mantling with silver over the sick 
man's tended couch — but as it wears the scaf- 



information obtained in Darien,] having learned his circumstan- 
ces, and having obtained the necessary permission, sent to him 
clothes and food, and comforts, with a very liberal hand. He 
died Sept. 21st, 1806, venerated by all who knew him, in the 
88th year of his age. He was educated at Yale College, of 
which he Avas a Fellow thirteen years." 



NATHAN HALE. 125 

fold's ghastly hue — to commune vyith his soul, 
and with his God ! — What a night to Hale ! 

The hours flew as seconds. Weeks and 
months to one death-doomed, endure but as 
single sands ebbing in Time's smallest glass. 
Light runs into shade, and shade into light, with 
scarce a gradation marked by that eye on which 
all light and shade are soon to close forever. 
But quick as must have passed to Hale his 
prison hours, there was one to whom these hours 
doubtless seemed laggard — he to whose hands 
the captive was consigned — and the deeper shad- 
ows of tlie night had scarce faded into misty 
gray, the rose of an autumn sun, low and faint ^ 
but just begun to blush in the east, when the 
executioner sought his victim. It was morn- 
ing — daybreak — morning too of the 'hallowed 
day' — l)ut War knows no Sabbaths — the fatal 
hour had come ! 

Cunningham found Hale ready. Doubtful 
it is if oil that straw, or i-ug, or coarse blanket, 
11* 



126 NATHAN HALE. 

or "oaken plank," which formed his bed,* he 
had slept at all — the thoughts of home and 
death rushing, as they must have done, impetu- 
ously on his nerves. He handed the letters he 
had written to the Provost Marshal for ultimate 
delivery — one certainly to his mother — another, 
it is said, to his sisters — a third probably to the 
lady to whom he was betrothed — or perhaps his 
messages to all may have occupied a single letter, 
or a single sheet. Be this as it may, what he 
had written was at once insolently scrutinised 
by Cunningham, who, as he read, grew furious 
at the noble spirit which breathed in every 
line of the composition — and for the reason — 
afterwards given by himself — 'Hhat the rebels 
should never know theij had a man ivho could 
die icith such firmness ^^^ he tore the paper into 

=* "An oaken plank, it was our bed, 
And very scanty we were fed." 
From Peter St. John's account — one of the Provost prisoners, 
and captured at Darien, Conn , with the Rev. Moses Mather D. D., 
and others. 



NATHAN HALE. 127 

shreds, and ordered his victim to begin his death 
march. 

That march — its accompaniments — the place 
of the scaffold — its preparations — the scene 
around it — these are points upon which history 
does not throw much light, yet enough materi- 
ally to aid conjecture. The general practice in 
executions, at this period, and particularly Cun- 
ningham's, we have ascertained from various 
sources.* That they were conducted chiefly in 

*In 1782, two British soldiers, named Tench and Porter, were 
hung at the Wallabout, on a chestnut tree, for robbing and mur- 
dering a fanner of Flushing named James Hedges. Cunning- 
ham presided over the execution, which took place in the pres- 
ence of a large detachment of the British Army. The late ven- 
erable GeneralJeremiah Jo/mson of Brooklyn, L. I., witnessed it, 
and in a letter to the writer describes it as below. The extract 
we give materially aids our conception both of the manner in 
which an execution was conducted in the times of whicli we 
speak, and of the Provost Marshal, with his blacJc hangman. 

" The execution," writes General Johnson, " Avas conducted 
as follows. At 10 A. M., about 1000 men were marched to the 
place of execution, and formed a hollow square, which enclosed 
a large chestnut tree on the land (then) of Martin Schenck. 
A short time after the square was formed, Cunningham, followed 



128 NATHAN HALE. 

an old graveyard near the Provost, in Chambers 
[then Barrack] Street, is a fact well made out. 



by his mulatto negro ham/maii, who caiTied a hidder and coi'ds, 
entered the square. The negro placed the ladder against an 
horizontal limb of the tree, which was about 15 feet from the 
ground. He then ascended the ladder, and adjusted one halter. 
He then moved the ladder about four feet, and adjusted the sec- 
ond halter. The nooses dropped about five feet. A short time 
after the halters were adjusted, the criminals were escorted into 
the square. Their arms were pinioned, and they were dressed 
in white jackets, and Avhitt overhauls, and they wore Avhite caps. 
Tench ascended the ladder first, and the hangman stepped up 
close behind him, and fixed the halter around the culprit's neck, 
drew the cap over his face, descended, and immediately turned 
the man ofi" the ladder, when he hung about five feet above 
ground. The ladder was then placed at the second halter. 
Porter ascended the steps firmly, followed by the negro, who 
fixed the halter, drew down the cap, descended, and immedi- 
ately turned Porter ofi" towards Tench. The bodies struck 
against each other, and dangled some time before they were 
still. The men struggled little in dying. 

" The field and staff ofticers were stationed inside the scjuare. 
After the execution, I saw Cunningham go to the commanding 
ofticer (said to be Grey), to whom I suppose he reported, and wlio 
appeared to treat him with contempt. The troops marched off to 
their camp. The dead Itodies wei-e taken down , and buried under 
the tree." 



NATHAN HALE. 129 

It is probable, therefore, that this was the spot 
of Hale's suffering — though it may have been 
elsewhere — above the city — and on some tree 
near the place of his trial. As a sjyy^ his exe- 
cution would, of course, be public — we know 
that it was so — would l)e attended with the ordi- 
nary formalities — all that were calculated to 
strike terror — and with many in addition, for 
the purpose of accumulating disgrace — and in 
the case under consideration, we know, was 
accompanied with every contrivance which bru- 
tality could suggest to wound the sensibilities of 
the victim.* 

* Among other testimony in proof of the fact stated in the 
text is the following. Tunis Boyart, an honest farmer of Long 
Island, wlio for tive weeks remained impressed as a waggoner in 
the British service, witnessed Hale's execntion. In 1784, being 
asked to witness another execution then about to take })lace, he 
replied : " No — I have seen one man hung, a spy, [alluding to 
Hale, J and that's enougli for me. I have never been aV)le to 
efface the scene of horror from my mind — it rises up to my imag- 
ination always. That old ' Devil Catcher ' Cunningham was 
so brutal, and hung him upas a l)utcher would a calf! The 



loO NATHAN HALE. 

His arms then, probably, pinioned close behind 
him — over his body a coarse white gown or 
jacket trimmed with black, the winding sheet of 
the scaffold — on his head a cap of white, trimmed 
too with black — near him a box of rough pine 
boards, his coffin, l^orne in a cart, or upon the 
shoulders of attendants — before him a guard 
leading the way — behind him another guard 
with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets — in the 
rear of these Cunningham himself, with other 
officers, as formal witnesses of the event — and 
near, mulatto Richmond, the common hangman 
of the Provost, bearing a ladder, and with a 
coil of rope about his neck — such were the cir- 
cumstances, it may fairly be presumed, under 
which Hale moved to the place of his execution — 
there where some tree sent out from its ill-omened 
trunk a rigid horizontal limb, or where from 
among the bones of those already dead, two 



women sobbed aloud, and Cunningham 8Wore at them for it, 
and told them they would likely enough themselves come to the 
same fate." 



NATHAN HALE. 131 

straight poles, supporting a cross beam in their 
crotches, shot into the air — and where, just 
beneath, a heap of earth, thrown freshly out, 
marked a new-made grave. 

Early morning as it was, the sun hardly risen, 
yet quite a crowd was collected around the spot — 
many whom the fire in the city had kept out of 
their beds all night — men and women — a few 
American waggoners, who, impressed from Long 
Island into the British forage service, happened 
to be in town — some soldiers and officers of the 
royal army, and among these last that officer of 
the British Commissariat Department, whose 
subsequent narrative of the circumstances to 
General Hull forms one of our chief sources of 
information. But in all that crowd there was 
not one face familiar to Hale — not one voice to 
whisper a word of consolation to his dying agony. 
Yet though without a friend whom he knew — 
though denied that privilege granted usually to 
the meanest criminal, the attendance of a chap- 
lain — though degraded l)y every external mark 



132 NATHAN HALE. 

of ignominy — yet did his spirit not give way. 
His gait, as he approached the gallows, in spite 
of his pinioned arms, was upright and steady. 
No offending soldier to whom the choicer penalty 
has been assigned to receive the shot of his com- 
rades, ever, in the midst of sympathy, and with 
the consciousness that he was allowed at least a 
soldier's death, marched more firmly to kneel 
upon his coffin than did Hale to meet the felon's 
doom. Through all the horror of his situation 
he maintained a deportment so dignified, a reso- 
lution so calm, a spirit so exalted by Christian 
readiness to meet his fate, and by the conscious- 
ness of duty done, and done in the holy cause of 
his country, that his face, we cannot but think, 
must have worn almost the aspect of a seraph's — 
lifted as it was at frequent intervals to heaven, and 
so radiant with hope, heroism, and resignation. 
Thus looking, he stood at last — the few simple 
preparations being ended — elevated on one of 
the rounds of the gallows ladder — ready for the 
fatal fall. The coarse voice of Cunningham, 
whose eye watched every arrangement, was now 



NATHAN HALE. 133 

heard scoffiiigly demanding from his victim his 
dying speech and confession* — as if hoping that 
the chaos of Hale's soul at that awful moment, 
would lead him to utter some remark, strange 
or ridiculous, which might serve to glut the 
curiosity of the crowd, or be remembered as a 
kind of self-made epitaph by 'a rebel captain.' 

Never was torturer more cheated of his pur- 
pose — never a victim endowed with utterance 
more sublime! One glance, it is said, at Cun- 
ningham — one slight momentary contraction of 
his features into contempt — and he turned his 
look, filled again with holy energy and swee-t- 
ness, upon the spectators — now impressed, most 

* That such a demand was made by Cunningham, rests 
chiefly on the statement of the hite H. A. Buckingham Esq., 
of New York. He assured us that he received it from unques- 
tionable authority, having consulted, as we know he did, very 
many aged persons in New York who were conversant with it, 
and with some other particulars regarding the execution of 
Hale. We see no reason to doubt the statement, but on the 
other hand, we perceive everything in the character and con- 
duct of Cunningham to corroborate it amplv. 

12 



134 NATHAN HALE. 

of tliem, Avitli solemn awe — and some of them, 
the females, not forbearmg to sob aloud. With 
a voice full, distinct, slow — which came mourn- 
fully thrilling from the very depths of his 
being — in words which patriotism will forever 
enshrine, and every monument to Hale's mem- 
ory sink deepest into its stone, and every temple 
of liberty blazon highest on its entablature — at 
the very moment when the tightening knotted 
cord was to crush the life from his young body 
forever — he ejaculated — as the last immortal 
testament of his heroic soul to the world he was 
leaving — 

**3 oiiln velvet tl)at 3 \)avc but one life to lose 
for mij rountvu I '' 

Maddened to hear a sentiment so sublime burst 
from the lips of the sufferer, and to witness 
visible signs of sympathy among the crowd, 
Cunningham instantly shouted for the catastro- 
phe to close. — "Swing the rebel off!" — we con- 



NATHAN HALE. 135 

ceive we hear him vociferating even now — 
"swing him off!" The ladder disappeared — 
the cord strained from the creaking beam or 
bough — and with a sudden jerk, tlie body of 
Hale dangled convulsively in the air. A few 
minutes fluttering to and fro — a few heavings 
of its noble chest — its manly limbs at moments 
sharply bent by the pang — it at last hung 
straight and motionless from its support. 
All was still as the chambers of death — 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Effect of Hale's death — upon Gen. Washington — upon the 
American army — upon his relatives, and friends elsewhere — 
upon his camp attendant, Asher Wright. Deep and general 
mourning. The Hale Monument Association. The Monu- 
ment. Extracts from poetry in memory of Hale. An epi- 
taph by a friend. Comparison between Hale and Andre. 
Conclusion. 

The death of Hale was deemed of sufficient 
importance, in the British army, to demand its 
formal notification to the American Commander 
in chief. From a motive probably of military 
policy — that the capture and summary execu- 
tion, at the hands of British vigilance, of an 
American spy, might operate as an example and 
a warning upon the American army — Colonel 
Montaznar of the royal forces was deputed, un- 



NATHAN HALE. 137 

der a flag of truce, to announce the event to 
General Washington. He fulfilled his mission. 
The melancholy tidings were received — with 
what sorrow — with what sympathy, on the part 
of the Commander in chief, we are left, in great 
degree to conjecture. Washington's grief, how- 
ever, must have been profound — for he was a 
man himself instinct witli sensibility, and Hale, 
we learn from various sources, was one of his 
favorites. In the camp at Cambridge, he had 
met him in the tents of those generals in the 
army with whom Hale was familiar, and at 
various places upon the field of encampment, 
and at his own Head Quarters. He had noticed 
particularly his skill in discipline, and the ex- 
cellent appearance of his company on parade — 
and was gratified with the numerous evidences 
which the young officer gave of intelligence, 
patriotism, and activity. Moreover, it was at 
his own instigation that Hale had been employed 
upon the j^erilous mission in which he had lost 
liis life. 

12* 



138 NATHAN HALE. 

A cloud then, we doubt not, settled on his 
spirits when the report first reached him of 
Hale's fate — and upon the spirits too of the 
American army generally, wherever, from rank 
to rank, from soldier to soldier, the sad news 
was circulated. Hale's acqiiaintances in camp 
were very numerous. The soldiers of his own 
regiment all knew him. He was known also to 
many of other regiments. He had many inti- 
mate friends among the officers. All loved him. 
The blow which severed him from his military 
companions, therefore, was extensively felt, and 
was universally lamented. And to his own 
family — to his doating parents particularly,* and 
a large circle of relatives and friends, to whom 
he was clasped in affection by hooks of steel— 
what a bereavement! Every face, within this 
circle particularly, 

" Bearing its deadly sorrow charactered," 



* " It almost killed his father and mother," said a lady, who 
witnessed their agony, to the late Professor Kingsley of Yale 
College, our informant. 



NATHAN HALE. 139 

was a face of despondency. Death could hardly 
have struck down a more shining mark — its fatal 
dart have hardly pierced one nobler bosom — its 
rude, inexorable blast have scarcely nipped one 
fairer bud of promise.* Bnt upon no one did 
the news fall with more stunning effect than 
upon poor Asher Wright — Hale's faithful at- 
tendant in camp. It completely unstrung his 
nerves. It impaired his self-control. And he 
wore the pall of a somewhat shattered under- 
standing down to his grave. f Back to the 



* " Those who knew Capt. Hale in New London," says Miss 
Caulkins in her History of this town, "have described him as 
a man of many agreeable qualities ; frank and independent in 
liis bearing ; social, animated, ardent, a lover of the society of 
ladies, and a favorite among them. Many a fair cheek was wet 
with bitter tears, and gentle voices uttered deep execrations 
on his barbarous foes, Avhen tidings of his untimely fate were 
rc(;eived." 

t We commend the following extracts from a letter addressed 
to us 1>y the Secretary of the Hale Monument Association, J. 
W. Boynton Esq., of Coventry, to the notice of the Reader. 
They furnish very interesting particulars about "poor Asher." 

" It is said that Wriglit was never in a sound mind after the 



140 NATHAN HALE. 

mansion of Deacon Richard Hale, on his return 
to Coventry, he bore treasured memorials of his 

sad fate of Hale was made known to him. He was left in 
charge of Hale's uniform, at his quarters in New York. When 
the British crossed over to the city, Wright had much difficulty 
in oh'taining a team to remove the eftects of Hale, and came 
near being taken, and often said that he would not liave left 
without the effects, although he might have been captured by the 
British. 

""Wright did not return to Coventry for some years after he 
Avas discharged from service, and it was ever supposed that the 
fate of Hale, and the deranged state of mind consequent upon 
it, were the causes. Until the last years of his life he could not 
converse upon the subject without weeping. 

"His gi-ave is about 150 feet directly north ot the monument 
of Hale, and about 30 feet north-west of the graves of the Hale 
family ; and a plain marble slab, erected by liis administrator,, 
bears the following inscription : 

ASHER WRIGHT 

A REVOLUTIONARY 

SOLDIER AND 

ATTENDANT OP 

Captain Nathan Hale 

DIED 

June 20th 1844 
AGED 90. 




ROPES DEL. LITH OF E.8 &• E C. KtLLOCC 

HALE'S CAM P- BASKIT AN D CAMP-BOOK.o 



NATHAN HALE. 141 

beloved employer — some articles which Hale, 
when he last parted with him, had left in his 
custody — and among these, particularly, Hale's 
Camp-Basket and Camp-Book — pictures of 
which the print opposite accurately presents — 
and which, now that we are inditing this para- 
graph, melancholy remembrancers indeed, rest 
upon the table by our side. How vividly do 
they call up the image of the youthful martyr — 
how bring 

" Back on the heart the weight that it would fling 
Aside forever " — 

yet a weight not all made up of sadness, but 
rainbow-tinted at least with one inspiring joy — 
joy that our Country, in one of her agonies of 



" Asher Wright received a pension of $96 per annum. David 
Hale, of New York, was at all times rendering assistance to 
him, not only by a needful supply of provisions, but also by 
repairs upon his dwelling house. He was also often remem- 
bered by Mr. Hale's family in seasonal)le donations of clothing, 
&c. &c." 



142 NATHAN HAL?:. 

distress — when she stretched out her shattered 
hnploring hands for a service from which all 
others shrank away — found one Soul from the 
russet shades of old Connecticut heroic enough, 
taking the cross upon his own shoulders, for her 
sake to do, and dare, and die!* 

That in the midst of a grief so general and 
poignant as that which we describe, so little 
public record should have been preserved of a 
man so note-worthy as Hale, excites our sur- 
prise.! Strange that he should not have been 

* The Camp-Basket is made of ozier, neatly intertwined. It 
is divided into two eompartments by a partition in the centre. 
The interior is carefnlly lined with plaited straw, and fragments 
of glass, the debris of bottles, tliat when wliole belonged to 
Hale, still remain within it. 

t Take the following specimens of the mcagreness of records. 
1. Extract from a letter of an American officer to his friend, 
dated Harlem, September twenty-sixth, 1776, and published in 
the Boston Gazette, October seventh, 1776 — "One //o/e, on 
suspicion of being a spy, was taken up, and dragged without 
ceremony to the execution post, and hung up." 2. Extract 
from a letter written September twenty-fifth, 1776, b}^ James 
Drewett, on board the British frigate Mercur}- — " On the 22nd 



NATHAN HALE. 148 

signalized, in his own day and time, by appro- 
priate obsequies, by funereal devices, by solemn 
eulogies, by resolutions expressive of his merits, 
by tablets of ]n*ass, and durable monuments of 
stone. * Surely no one of all those who shed 
their blood for the glorious liberty we now enjoy, 
better deserved to have been thus commemora- 
ted — for upon no one, save himself, devolved a 
task so perilous, bitter, and fatal. Thirty-three 
years after his death, a fort in the har])or of 
New Haven, Connecticut — built of l)rick upon 
an insulated rock, two miles from the end of 
Long wharf — was called after the hero — " Fort 
Haky But it has been long ungarrisoned, and 
in decay.* A nol)ler memorial than this was 



we hung a man avIio was sent as a spy by Gen. Wasliington." 
3. Extract from a letter written by a British officer, and pul)- 
lished in the Middlesex [London] Journal, No. 1196, December, 
1776— "New York Island, Sept. 26, 1776. Yesterday [a mis- 
take as to time] we hanged an officer of the Provincials who 
came as a spy." 

* One of the New Jersey Chapters of the Order of United 
Americans, instituted November twentv-first, 1849, is entitled, 



144 NATHAN HALE. 

desired — and now, at last — in one locality at 
least — public gratitude has erected it — and in 
an imposing and enduring form. 

For many years, in his native town, a simple, 
rude stone, by the side of his father's grave, in 
the burial-ground near the Congregational 
church, told the passer-by that "Nathan Hale 
Esq., a Capt. in the army of the United States, 
was born June 6th, 1755 — received the first 
honors of Yale College Sept. 1773 "—and "re- 
signed his life a sacrifice to his country's liberty 
at New York, Sept. 22d, 1776, aged 22."* But 

we perceive, the "Nathan Hale Chapter, No. 3, 0. U. A." 
Another Association of the same kind, entitled " Nathan Hale 
Chapter, No. 66, 0. U. A.," is established at Williamsburgh, 
New York. At a "fraternal visit" paid by this to the Wash- 
ington Chapter in New York city, September twenty-eighth, 
1855, Hale was eloquently called to remembrance in speeches 
upon the occasion, by I), L. Northrop Esq., of Brooklyn, Hon. 
Joseph H. Petty, Mr. Shelley, and others. 

* An entry also of his death was made upon the town records 
of Coventry— by his brother Major John Hale — at a time when 
the particulars of his capture were not known accurately. It 
runs thus: "Capt. Nathan Hale the son of Deac" Richard 



NATHAN HALE. 145 

this did not satisfy the wishes of the citizens of 
Coventry, and vicinity, and of many in Connec- 
ticut who fondly cherished the memory of the 
martyr— and accordingly, in November, 183T, 
an Association — called the "Hale Monument 
Association" — was formed, for the purpose of 
erecting a cenotaph in his honor — one that 
should fitly commemorate his life and services.* 
Appeal was made, chiefly, to the patriotism 
of individuals for the accomplishment of the 
purpose. Congress — though several times mem- 
orialized for aid, and though Select Committees 
reported in favor of an appropriation — yet — 
from motives, to us wholly imsatisfactory, of 

Hale was taken in the City of New York By the Britons and 
executed as a spie sometime in the Month of September A. D. 
1776." 

* The day on which it was formed was the anniversary day 
of the evacuation of New York. Hon. A. T. Judson delivered 
an address upon the occasion. About twenty revolutionary 
soldiers were present, and a large party partook of a substantial 
repast. It was a day of great interest to the people of Cov- 
entry. 

13 



146 NATHAN HALE. 

public policy — refused to grant anything. Rep- 
resentatives from Connecticut — particularly Hon- 
orable Messrs. A. T. Judson, J. H. Brockway, 
and J. M. Niles — urged the matter with a most 
commendable zeal — but in vain.* Congress re- 
mained deaf as an adder to their appeal — as it 
has been habitually, of late years, to all appeals 



* The late Hon. Judge Judson, in behalf of a Select Commit- 
tee of the House, upon petitions praying that a monument might 
be erected to the memory of Hale, submitted a favorable Eeport 
and Kesolution, January nineteenth, 1836. Hon. Mr. Xiles, in 
the same year, strongly supported the project, when petitions 
from sundry inhabitants of Connecticut came before the Seu. 
ate. Hon, Mr. Broekway, May twenty-fifth, 1842, in behalf of 
a Select CoTiimittee of the House on the subject, also submitted 
a favorable Report and Resolution, and pressed the matter with 
patriotic earnestness. For eight successive years applications, in 
cue form and another, Avere made to Congress — but all of them 
failed, as stated in the text. The first petition on the subject 
emanated from Coventry, and was headed by Doctor Nathan 
Howard, who married Joanna, the sister of Captain Nathan Hale. 
The second was drawn up by Hon. Thomas S. Williams of 
Hartford, and was numerously signed by citizens in various 
parts of Connecticut. Upon this a report was made by a Com- 
mittee of Congress, appropriating one thousand dollars for a 
monument, but the report was not acted upon. 



NATHAN HALE. 147 

of this character — and would not bestow a stiver 
to honor one who died signally, not for the lib- 
erty of Connecticut alone, but for that of all 
the United Colonies.* So the Association to 



* In times that have past, Congress could expend thousands 
of dollars — and most justly — upon a pedestrian statue of the 
Father of his country, and thousands more to commemorate, 
through the painter's art, some of the grand historical events of 
our Revolution. It could erect monuments to Montgomery, 
Mercer, Nash, De Kalb, Geny, and BroAvn. It could grant to 
Williams, and Paulding, and Van Wart, the captors of Andre, 
each a farm of the value of five hundred dollars, and an annuity of 
two hundred dollars through life, and a magnificent silver medal. 
It could employ the sculptor's art on busts of Jay, Ellsworth, 
and Marshall. It could vote medals of gold, and swords of 
costliest workmanship, to Jackson, Scott, Ripley, Harrison, and 
to numerous officers besides, for gallant deeds upon the land, 
and to Decatur, Hull, Perry, Truxton, McDonougli, and many 
naval heroes more, for glorious exploits upon tlie seas. It 
could recite in its resolutions, in glowing terms, the services of 
cadi, and proclaim, as it did in Commodore Truxton's case, that 
the testimonials of the American nation were bestowed because 
tlieir recipients " exhibited an example worthy of the American 
name." And yet the nation could not say as much for Captain 
Hale, wlien petitioned in his belialf — nor do aught in his honor 
How was it with England, and her martyr spy ? Very different. 



148 NATHAN HALE. 

which we have alluded — under the auspices, 
always unclouded, of J. W. Boynton Esquire, its 
patriotic and indefatigable Secretary — ^moved on 
alone — and by means of private subscriptions, 
by Fairs, by Tea Parties, and by the exhibition 
of a Drama illustrating the services and fate of 
Captain Hale, collected funds, and excited pub- 
lic interest until in May, 1846, the State of Con- 
necticut granted one thousand dollars, and in 
May, 1847, two hundred and fifty dollars more, 
from its public Treasury in furtherance of the 
great object* — and the Monument, of which, 



British gratitude erected to Andre a splendid mausoleum, even 
in Westminster Abbey — and among the most illustrious dead of 
the British Empire ! See Appendix D. 

* The ladies of CoAentry, Connecticut, were particularly ac 
tive in procuring means to erect the monument to Hale, and 
deserve, as they will receive, the especial thanks of the Public. 
In 1844, on the first Wednesday in May, they held a Fair in 
the old church of the First Ecclesiastical Society, at which many 
useful and fancy articles were collected, and contributions were 
made of cash, from Coventry, Hartford and other places. More 
than three thousand persons were present, and the receipts were 
two hundred and sixty-eight dollars. Refreshments were pro- 



^ v^-^^M^^^ 2? 




r" 










LITH OF E.B * E r. KELLOGG. 



KALE MONUMENT 



NATHAN HALE. 149 

opposite, we give a picture — arose, " afit emblem 
l)otli of the events in memory of which it was 
raised, and of the gratitude of those who reared 
it" — arose " to meet the sun in his coming" — to 
"let the earliest light of the morning gild it, 
and parting day linger and play on its summit!" 

videtl, and the Marslifield Brass Band, and the Coventry Glee 
Chib, were in attendance — gratnitously. A song, beantifully 
printed on satin — was prepared for the occasion. It addressed 
tlie " Danghters of Freedom," as having assembled, 

" with choicest flowers 
To deck a hero's grave — 
To shed the liglit of love arouud 
The memory of the brave.'' 

" Ye came," glide on the strains — 

" Ye came witli hearts that oft have glowed 

At his soul-stirring tale — 
To wreathe the deathless evergreen 

Around the name of Hale. 

Here his memorial stone shall rise, 

In Freedom's hallowed shade — 
Prouder than Andre's trophied tomb, 

Mid mightiest monarchs laid. 

So shall the patriot's honored name 

Go down to other days — 
And Love's own lyre shall sound his fame. 

In thrilling notes of praise." 

13* 



150 NATHAN HALE. 

It stands upon elevated ground, near the Con- 
gregational Clinrch, in South Coventry — and 
"Ruthin a space, enclosed by a neat iron picketed 
fence, which abuts on an old Burying-yard, that 
holds among other ashes, those of Hale's own 
family. Its site is particularly fine — for on the 
north it overlooks that long, broad, and beauti- 
ful lake of Wangumbaug, into Avhose oozy depths, 
with great constancy, Hale 

The Drama, to which reference is made in the text, Avas in 
five act^, and was written for the Hale Monument Association 
by David Trumbull Esq. It was exhibited at the Meeting- 
House in South Coventry, with accompanying Tableaux. One 
of tlie Tm-Parties, to whicli reference also is made, Avas given 
March eleventh, 184G, by the young ladies of South Coventry — 
with good success. One dollar, for the benefit of the Hale Asso- 
ciation, admitted a gentleman and lady. By May, 1846, the 
whole amount collected Avas fifteen liundred dollars. 

Thus — one way and another — a\ ith untiring zeal — the noble 
design of a Monument to Hale, worthy of the patriot, was 
prosecuted — till the appropriation from the Treasury of Con- 
necticut — in behalf of which — memory pleasant to our soul — 
we had the satisfaction, in Senate, of giving heartily our oavu 
voice and vote — rendered tlic project certain of consummation. 



NATHAN HALE. 151 

" Cast to the finny tribe the baited snare, 
Then flung the wriggling captives into air — " 

while on the east, commandmg a view of scenery 
that is truly noble, it literally looks through a 
long and captiA^ating natural vista to greet " the 
sun in its rising." The Monument — the origi- 
nal plan of which was drawn by Henry Austin 
Esquire, of New Haven — consists of a pyramidal 
shaft, resting ou a base of steps, with a shelving 
projection about one-third of the way up the ped- 
estal. Its material is hewn Quincy granite, solid 
from foundation to capstone, and embracing one 
hundred and twenty-five tons of stone. It is 
fourteen feet square at the base, and its height 
is forty-five feet.* It was completed in 1846 — 



* Tlie transportation of the material from Quincy to Norwich, 
at an estimated cost of four hundred dollars, was a generous 
gratuity on the part of the Old Colony, Boston and Worcester, 
and Norwich and Worcester Rail lload Companies. The Hon, 
Nathan Hale of Boston, nephew and namesake of the jiatriot we 
commemorate, and at the time President of the second of these 
Companies, was nobly active in procuring this result. From 



152 NATHAN HALE. 

under the superintendence of Solomon Willard 
Esquire, the architect of the Bunker Hill Monu 
ment — at a cost, everything included, of three 
thousand seven hundred and thirty-three dollars 
and ninety-three cents, and bears upon its sides 
the following inscriptions. 

[North side.] 

Captain Nathan Hale. 
1776. 

[West side.] 

Born at Coventry. 

June 6. 17 5 5. 



Norwich to Coventry the material was transported by ox-teams, 
at an estimated cost of about five hundred and twenty-five dollars. 
On the seventh of April, 1846, the ground was first broken for 
tlie foundation of the monument, which was laid of stone quar- 
ried about three-quarters of a mile east of its site. Messrs 
Hazelton & Co., of Boston, erected the cenotaph, at a cost of 
three hundred dollars, and completed it on the seventeenth day 
of September, 1846. 



NATHAN HALE. 153 

[East side.] 

Died at New York. 

Sept. 22. 1776. 

[South side.] 
" I flulj Ttigrtt l^at I fiabt lut one life to lost for mj) tounlrj." 



Hale's fate, as might be expected, has called 
out at times the Muse of Poetry — ^l)ut rarely 
however, for the parchment roll of his history 
has been, hitherto, wanting to Calliope, and Clio 
has missed him in her half-opened scroll. Yet 
are the ten lines from Doctor Dwight — on the 
Title Page of this Yokime — nobly commemora- 
tive — and so also are many lines in a poem of 
considerable length which was dedicated to tlie 
memory of Hale, but a short time after his death, 
by a personal acquaintance and friend — one 
who knew and loved him well.* In this poem, 

* The name of the author is unknown. His entire poem, 
consisting of one luindrcd and sixty lines, may l)e found in the 



154 NATHAN HALE. 



the author describes Hale as in personal appear- 
ance erect and tall, with a " beauteous face," 
that was marked by " innate goodness," and a 
frame, which, possessing great symmetry and 
grace, was " vigorous, and active as electric 

Febriiari) number of the Amen'atn Historical Matjazine, published 
in New HsiA-en in 1836. He prefoccs it with the following quo- 
tation from Virgil : 

" lieu 1 niiserande puer, si qua fata aspera rumpas, 
Tu Marcellus eris '" — 

and also with the following letter, bearing date " New Haven, 
Aug. 9, 1784." 

"I was personally acquainted with, and entertained a high 
opinion of the aimiable Capt. Nathan Hale, who suffered death 
in New York by the hands of the British troops, in 1776; a 
character on some accounts similar to Major Andre, and on 
many, greatly superior. Every man who regards the welfare 
of his country, must revere a patriot who died in its defence : 
and while the English Magazines, News, &c., were filled with the 
praises of Major Andre, it gave me no small degree of regret 
that Capt. Hale's virtues should be so little celebrated in the 
country where, and for which he died. This I am able to im- 
pute to notliing but the great distress in which America was at 
that time involved. This gave rise to the following piece, which 
Avas wrote soon after Hale's death." 



NATHAN HALE. 155 

flame." He represents him at college as a most 
dutiful pupil, and as possessing " erudition far 
beyond his years" — as developing a lively fancy, 
solid judgment, great fondness for science, and 
intense admiration for 

" those polished lines, 
Where Grecian wit and Roman genius shines " — 

and as having his soul fired by the examples of 
those great worthies of a former age, who "live 
in the poet's and historian's page." 

He speaks of his "blameless carriage, and 
modest air" — characterizes him as 

"Above the vain parade and idle show, 

Which mark the coxcomb, and the empty beau " — 

and describing his qualities of temper and con- 
duct, says that 

" Removed from envy, malice, pride, and strife, 

He walked through goodness as lie walked through life ; 

A kinder brother nature never knew, 

A child more duteous, or a friend more true." 



156 NATHAN HALE. 

The poet next follows him into the army near 
Boston — where, he says, Washington early 
marked him as "a genius fit for every great 
design" — 

" His virtues trusted, aud his worth admired, 
And mutual friendship both their bosoms fired." 

He next follows him to New York — narrates 
the task imposed on him by Washington — his 
execution of it — his arrest — his arraignment 
before his enemies — his undaunted demeanor 
upon the occasion, and his noble frankness. 

" Hate of oppression's arbitrary plan. 
The love of freedom, and the rights of man, 
A strong desire to save from slavery's chain 
The future millions of the -svestern main " — 

these are the ends for which, most truthfully. 
Hale is portrayed as having " served with zeal 
the land that gave him birth" — and as having 
at last 'met his fate' in a scene, to paint which, 
the poet exclaims. 



NATHAN HALE. 157 

" the powers of language fail, — 
Love, grief and pity break the mournful tale. 
Not Socrates, or noble Russel died. 
Or gentle Sidney, Britain's boast and pride, 
Or gen'rous Moore, approached life's final goal. 
With more composed, more firm, and stable soul. 
The flesh sunk down, to mix with kindred clay, — 
The soul ascended to the realms of day." 

With similar pathos, and not ungracefully, 
does a poet of Hale's own native place — the late 
lamented J. S. Babcock — sing of his departed 
townsman. "Full stern was his doom,'' he 
rehearses — 



" but full firmly he died, 
No funeral or bier they made him, 
Not a kind eye wept, nor a warm heart sighed, 
O'er the spot all unknown where they laid him. 

He fell in the spring of his early prime, 
With his fair hopes all around him ; 

He died for his birth-land — ' a glorious crime ' — 
Ere the palm of his fame had crowned him. 

14 



158 NATHAN HALE. 

He fell in her darkness — he lived not to see 

The morn of her risen glory ; 
But the name of the brave, in the hearts of the free, 

Shall be twined in her deathless story." 

Nor ungracefully either — but on the other 
hand with much of lyric force — does Francis M. 
Finch Esquire — in his Poem before the Linon- 
ian Society of Yale College at its Centennial 
Anniversary in 1853 — sing of the departed pat- 
riot. "To drum-beat," he proceeds, in a few 
verses which we extract from a series — 

" To drum-beat and heart-beat, 

A soldier marches by ; 
There is color in his cheek. 

There is courage in liis eye, 
Yet to drum-beat and heart-beat 

In a moment he must die. 

By star-light and moon-light. 

He seeks the Briton's camp ; 
He hears the rustling flag. 

And the armed sentry's tramp ; 
And the star-light and moon-light 

His silent wanderings lamp. 



i 



NATHAN HALE. 159 

With slow tread and still tread, 

He scans the tented line ; 
And he counts the battery-guns 

By the gaunt and shadowy pine ; 
And his slow tread and still tread 

Gives no warning sign." 

This 'warning sign,' however, as the poet 
describes, soon comes. " With a sharp clang, a 
steel clang, the patriot is bonnd" — and now, 

"With calm brow, steady brow, 

He listens to his doom ; 
In his look there is no fear, 

Nor a shadow trace of gloom ; 
But with calm brow, and steady brow, 

He robes him for the tomb. 



In the long night, the still night, 

He kneels upon the sod ; 
And the brutal guards withhold 

E'en the solemn Word of God ! 
In the long night, the still night. 

He walks whore Christ hath trod. 



160 NATHAN HALE. 

'Neath the bhic morn, the sunn}' morn, 

He dies upon the tree ; 
And he mourns that he can lose 

But one life for Liberty ; 
And in the blue morn, the sunny morn, 

His spirit-wings are free. 



From Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf, 

From monument and urn. 
The sad of Earth, the glad of Heaven, 

His tragic fate shall learn ; 
And on Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf 

The name of Hale shall burn ! " 

Romance too has been busy with Hale. He 
has been made the hero of tales, and the origi- 
nator of sentiments, in which the imagination, 
and not fact, has had the principal part to play. 
It is not to be regretted however, that even in 
these forms, exaggerated though they be, his 
memory is kept alive. So we are able to sepa- 
rate the true from the fanciful, we can pardon 
almost any idealization of Hale's character. 
We can forgive the halo for the sake of the 



NATHAN HALE. 161 

truly noble shape which it encompasses. When, 
however, we encounter a tribute to his memory, 
not heightened in coloring, but chaste and 
natural, like that which we are now about to 
introduce — it is indeed most grateful — as our 
Readers also, we think, will find it to be. 

It proceeds, in the form of an epitaph, in 
the old style, from the antiquarian pen of our 
worthy friend George Gibbs Esquire, Librarian 
formerly of the New York Historical Society, 
who has kindly furnished us with it — and we 
here give it place. 

"Stran^tr B;ciuatf) tf)i5 Stant 
3Lizs lf)£ iJust of 

^ sn 
lt3^o ptri'sib^Ir upon tf)£ (Kifiijtt 

set 

tf)f Storuir muxhUs of tf)je (Knat 

t^£ ^f)rtn£j5 of ^nots 

ttttomia not om, more iuort^j '^^ 

Plonor 

t]^an ^im b3f)o tert 

sUt^s ]iis last sUtf. 

14* 



162 NATHAN HALE. 

Nations 

loto toitf) tthtxtnn Matt t^t iust 

of f)im tof)o Jtijts 

a glorious iBtatb 

ur^jeb on is t\it sonnts of tt)t 

®rumpjet 

anlJ l]^t stouts of 

aifmirms ti&ousanirs 

But toj^at rtfitrinte, Ini&at fionor 

is not Jru« to ont 

ioto for tis xountrj tntounlenlr 

thm an infamous iJtatfj 

5oot!)«itr f)2 no sjmpatfij 

antmatfb ij ^o praist." 



In connection, and in comparison mth Hale, 
the image of the brave and unfortunate Andre 
rises, of course, to the contemplation of the 
Eeader. Let us look at them — side by side — 
and in contrast — the one an American, the other 
a British spy — each a distinguished victim — the 
one to his love of country — the other to "his 
own imprudence, ambition, and love of glory" — 



NATHAN HALE. 163 

each a martyr — the one for liberty — the other 
for power. They were both gallant officers. 
They were both accomplished men — Andre the 
most so by education, as having enjoyed the 
highest advantages, and more used than Hale 
to polished society. He could both draw 
and paint exquisitely — which Hale could not — 
and he was better versed than the latter in ele- 
gant literature. They were both men of striking 
personal appearance. They would have been 
called graceful, beautiful, and manly, by all. 
Each possessed a lively sensibility. Each was 
cheerful, affable, amiable, honorable, magnan- 
imous. Each was admired in all social circles, 
and won the hearts of hosts of friends. 

Let us look at the two now in their respective 
missions. Andre, iipon his own, did not volun- 
teer. It was upon Arnold's solicitation, forti- 
fied by considerations of friendship between 
Andre and the traitor's accomplished wife — and 
at the direct request of Sir Henry Clinton him- 
self, of whose military family Andre formed a 
part, and to whom, for kindness that had been 



164 NATHAN HALE. 

"lavish," Andre confesses obligations the most 
profound — that the British Aid de Camp, not 
dreaming to enact the spy, and with in fact no 
dangers then in prospect, consented, not prof- 
fered to undertake his task. 

But not so with Hale. He, upon his mission, 
volunteered. Soon as the wish of Washington 
Avas made known — biassed by no considerations 
of private friendship, and without thought of 
requiting personal obligations either to the 
Commander in chief, or to any other officer or 
man — in view of dangers most imminent, from 
Avhich all others shrank — in full Adew of them — 
and in the face of earnest entreaty to the con- 
trary — offered himself to discharge the trust. 

Andre, when he left New York, had no idea 
of passing within the American lines. He was 
specially instructed by Clinton not to do so — 
not to change his dress as a British officer — and 
he did not, until, as he says himself, he was 
" betrayed into the vile condition of an enemy in 
disguise." He was to go to Dobb's Ferry 
only — upon the borders merely of neutral 



NATHAN HALE. 165 

ground — and there, under a flag of truce, settle 
with Arnold the "pretended mercantile trans- 
action" — and it was the voice of the sentinel, 
in the darkness of night, at Smith's house, 
which first gave him intimation of the "unex 
pected circumstance" that he was within the 
American beat, and in danger. " Against my 
stipulation, my intention, and without my 
knowledge beforehand," he writes to Washing- 
ton, "I was conducted within one of your 
posts — I was involuntarily an impostor." 

Hale, on the other hand, started from the 
American camp, fully aware ' beforehand ' that 
he was to change his dress, and assume a dis- 
guise — that he was to pass within the British 
lines — into their midst — up to the very muzzles 
of their muskets, and the mouths of their ord- 
nance — that he was in fact to ])e, in all the 
shifts, and shades, and aims, and eflbrts of his 
mission, the spy. He undertook then, at the 
outset, what Andre not only did not, but never 
even contemplated, nor would, we believe, but 
for an unforeseen necessity, have for a moment 



166 NATHAN HALE. 

endured. His moral courage, therefore, rises 
higher than that of Andre's — higher far. For 
the sake of the sublime cause in which he was 
engaged, he became voluntarily ' an impostor.' 
He took upon himself a great ignominy to start 
with. Andre took none — bore no burden what- 
ever upon his spirits. Not even a fancied 
shadow projected itself, for a moment, over the 
dial of his honor, when he left the Head Quar- 
ters of his Commander in chief, and he pushed 
forward to the Vulture at Teller's Point, " carol- 
ling as he went." 

The motives which inspired Hale and Andre 
in their respective expeditions, are well worthy 
of consideration, and furnish striking contrast. 
" What was to have been your reward, in case 
you had succeeded?" — inquired Major Tall- 
madge of his prisoner, as the latter sat on the 
after seat of the barge in which he was borne, 
under escort, from West Point to Tappan. 
'' Military glory was all that I sought," replied 
Andre — "and the thanks of my general, and 
the approbation of my king, would have l^een 



NATHAN HALE. 167 

a rich reward for such an undertaking." Yes, 
military renown — martial preferment — the office 
of Brigadier General in the British army, offered 
him in advance as a glittering prize — the ' big 
wars' and the 'plumed troop' to make his 
'ambition virtue' — these, and Clinton's thanks, 
and the compliments of royalty, were the 
motives which prompted Andre — motives which, 
however elevated they may be thought to be, 
and in certain relations are, yet in true great- 
ness, and dignity, fall far below those which 
prompted Hale. 

Was Hale willing to hazard his life, that as a 
warrior, and in this character alone, he might 
"instil his memory through a thousand years?" 
Not at all. No martial allurement, of any kind, 
enslaved his imagination — ardent though it 
was — or flattered his hope, or stimulated his 
ambition. No promotion was promised — none 
was expected. No reward in pelf was pledged. 
" Surrounded from his birth," as one of his 



168 NATHAN HALE. 

graiid-iiepliews* has justly said, "with the doc- 
trine that men should do right because it is 
right, he went upon his hazardous mission just 
because it was right to go — not thinking T^hat 
bodies would say, nor expecting or caring to be 
a hero." It was a pure sense of duty — a mag- 
nificent inspiration direct and deep from the soul 
of patriotism itself — that impelled Halo to his 
task, and that bore him onward — unlike Andre, 
thoughtless of fame — unlike Andre, thoughtless 
of reward — unlike Andre, with no motive but 
the one engrossing, unpolluted, serene thought 
of ' being useful ' to his country — ouAvard to 
risk, to capture, and to death. f 

The peril while engaged in their expeditions — 
here again the parallel between Andre and Hale 
is in favor of the latter. Andre experienced 
scarce any exposure until he reached Smith's 



* The late Rev. David Hale, of New York. 

t" Viewed in any light," says Sparks, most justly, the act 
of Hale " must be allowed to bear unequivocal marks of patri- 
otic disinterestedness and self-devotion." 



NATHAN HALE. 169 

house near Haverstraw — and there but sliglit — 
a little more at King's Ferry, on his attempted 
return, near certain Whig loungers over a bowl 
of punch — more still near Crompond, in the 
immediate presence of an American patrolling 
party, and of the inquisitive Captain Boyd — but 
after this time, but little again until from the 
bushes at Tarry town, he was seized and secured 
by the patriot hands of Paulding, and Williams 
and Van Wart. Thirty-six hours only elapsed 
from the time he left the secure deck of tlie 
Vulture, and the shrouded foot of Mount Long- 
Clove, till he became a captive — and during this 
short interval, his chief, nay almost his only 
peril was among the Cowboys and Skinners who 
infested the far-famed neutral ground of AVest- 
chester County. But Hale was upon his mis- 
sion, ere he was made a prisoner, about two 
weeks* — a long period indeed as compared with 
that occupied by Andre — and filled up, the 

* Hale " was gone about a fortnight before I knew wliat had 
become of hira." Ashei- Wright. 

15 



170 NATHAN HALE. 

whole of it, with risks far more constant and 
glaring, not alone among bandits unprincipled 
and perfidious as those in whose proximity 
Andre journeyed, Init also in the immediate 
presence of the foe, and within the very circuits 
of their encampments. 

The behaviour of Hale and Andre immedi- 
ately after their capture merits comparison — it 
was in some points so strikingly similar. Truth- 
ful by impulse — "too little accustomed to du- 
plicity," either of them, long to 'succeed' in 
it — staggering too, each of them, under the 
weight of evidence that seemed resistless — they 
both made a clean breast of it, and confessed. 
The British officer did it, seeking some mitiga- 
tion of his case, but only such, however, "as 
could be granted on the strict jmnciples of 
honor and military usage." Hale sought no 
alleviation of his own case, of any kind — but 
respectfully triumphed over his success, such as 
he had obtained, and proudly confronted im- 
pending punishment. 

Andre acknowledged himself an Adjutant 



NATHAN HALE. 171 

General in the British army — but not a spy — 
certainly not an 'intentional' one. It was his 
purpose, as in his letter to Washington he says, 
to 'rescue' himself "from an imputation of 
having assumed a mean character for treacher- 
ous purposes, or self-interest." Hale acknowl- 
edged himself a Captain in the American Con- 
tinental service — but no scruples of fancied 
honor, no penitential casuistries, stood for a 
moment between himself and the part he had 
acted. He pronounced himself to General 
Howe, at once and unequivocally, a spy — and 
was ready, he affirmed, for the spy's fate. 

Upon trial. Hale was manly, dignified, 
respectful, prompt, unembarrassed, without dis- 
guise. So was Andre. Each stated "with 
truth everything relating to himself." Neither 
used any words "to explain, palliate, or defend 
any part of his conduct." Each without sur- 
prise, without comment, without a murmur, 
without even a complaining look, received his 
sentence. And each, after the sentence, retired 
to his quarters "tranquil in mind" — the one, 



172 NATHAN HALE. 

Hale — heaven knows where — to some foul bar- 
rack, or tent, or an 'oaken bed' in some cell of 
the Provost — the other, Andre, to ' decent quar- 
ters ' — specially ordered by Washington himself 
to be such — to a well furnished apartment, 
where, in pursuance of directions from the same 
high authority, and in conformity with the incli- 
nation of all on duty, he was 'treated with 
civility' — was comfortably lodged and fed — 
from the table principally of the American 
Commander in chief himself — and " every atten- 
tion paid to him suitable to his rank and char- 
acter." 

The interval between condemnation and death 
was spent by each in a frame of mind for the 
most part composed, but at times, we must 
believe, agitated and agonized — not by the fear 
of death — ^but at thought of rupturing, so 
soon, by the mortal throe, earth's potent ties — 
nay, in case of each of the captives, some ties 
that are the tenderest and most engrossing of 
all that bind man to this world. Andre had his 
mother and two sisters, dependent, each of 



NATHAN HALE. 173 

them, in some degree upon his commission for 
support. Though "Hope's soft star," as his 
friend Miss Seward expresses it, had "shone 
trembling on his love," he yet cherished his 
"Honor a." He had too his country to live for, 
and serve. And so had Hale — a bleeding coim- 
try, in a crisis of danger, to love and fight for — 
and troops of fond relatives and friends upon 
whom to outpour his affection — and an " Alicia" 
too, to admire and wear as the richest jewel in 
his heart. Soml^re thoughts then, at times — 
pangs even — must have come over the souls of 
the two sufferers, as in the solitude of their im- 
prisonment, they contemplated their near and 
dark approaching destiny. 

Yet — most of the time — we are assured, their 
appearance was marked by that same " serenity 
of temper, and winning gentleness of manners,'? 
w^iich had been conspicuous in their lives. 
Andre, in his imprisonment, was surrounded l)y 
sympathy and attention. So many and extenu- 
ating were the circumstances in liis favor, that 
15* 



174 NATHAN HALE. 

"even the sternest advocate for justice could 
not regard his impending fate without regret, or 
a wish that it might be averted." But Hale, as 
we have seen, had no such kindness near him— 
not one drop even for his parched and yearning 
heart — but all around him was dissonance, 
malediction, and severity. He was alone in his 
own desolation. 

Each of the captives wrote letters in prison- 
Hale to his home — Andre to General Washing- 
ton, and to Clinton. Andre in prison dreaded 
the gibbet, and implored to die a soldier's 
death — by the bullet. No such apprehension, 
that we can learn, tortured Hale. Andre, with 
a pen, quietly sketched his own likeness, seated 
at a table in his guard-room, on the morning of 
the day fixed for his execution.* Hale had no 
such resource for melancholy diversion — nor is 
it proba])le that he would have used it, had it 



* See a fac simile of it on the page opposite. Tlie original 
is in the Trumbull Gallery at Yale College. Tlie likeness is 
deemed very accurate. 



NATHAN HALE. 177 

been in his power, in preference to last words, 
to meditation, and to prayer. 

Each received with calmness notice of the 
fatal hour. Each marched firmly to the place 
of execution, save that disappointment at the 
mode of death made the frame of Andre shud- 
der for a moment when he first saw the gibbet. 
"It will be but a momentary pang," however, 
he said, and with his own hands bared, band- 
aged, and noosed himself for the occasion.* 
Other and barbarous hands, hands of true raven 
blackness, prepared Hale for his exit — and his 
own mortal agony was witnessed by but few — 
and these strangers all to the sufferer — persons 
chiefly of humble condition, with hearts, most 
of them, of flint — and who were assembled 
more from prurient curiosity — just to see a spy 

* " The lumginan, who was painted black, offered to put on 
the noose. — " Take off your black liands ! " said Andre ; then 
putting on the noose himself, took out his handkerchief, tied it 
on, drew it up, bowed with a smile to his acquaintances, and 
died." Tesfunow/ of David Wi/Iiofm. 



178 NATHAN HALE. 

liiiug — than from any motives of compassion. 
But Andre had around him an immense con- 
course of people — a large detachment of Ameri- 
can troops, and almost all the American general 
and field officers — and the entire body garlanded 
him with their sympathy — gratefully intensified 
the scene, and soothed the sufferer, with the 
tribute of their silent, deep, and universal 
mourning. 

Hale met his fate unostentatiously. Andre, 
in complete British uniform — in a coat of daz- 
zling scarlet, and under-clothes of brightest 
buff — with his long, beautiful hair carefully 
arranged — and with his hands upon his hips — 
paced his own coffin back and forth — gazed com- 
placently at the fatal l)eam over his head, and 
upon the crowd around him — and then daunt- 
lessly too, like Hale, gave himself up to that 
' tremendous swing,' as an eye-witness reports it, 
which, almost instantly, closed his mortal career. 

The last words of the sufferers — the compari- 
son here is indeed movinor and instructive. — " / 



NATHAN HALE. 179 

pray you to hear me vntness^' said Andre to Colo- 
nel Scammel, ''Hhat I meet my fate like a brave 
manl^' — "I only regret^' said Hale, '•Hliat I 
have hut one life to lose for my country I ^^ — Is 
it not obvious ? — the one was measuring himself 
in the eyes of men — the other in the eyes of his 
Maker — the one was thinking of reputation — 
the other of usefulness — the one of heroism — 
the other of benefaction — Andre of himself — 
Hale of his country. The dying moment 
then — that ordeal which, poignantly as by fire, 
tests the natural disposition — that solemn cri- 
sis when eternity is wont to sweep every shade 
of delusion from the soul of man, and truth, if 
ever, speaks in its genuine purity and power 
from his quivering lips — the dying moment tes- 
tifies to Hale's superior sublimity of character 
as compared with Andre. 

It was not the American martyr, at this time — 
be it remarked — who was thinking of worldly 
fame, and worldly honors. He summoned no 
one to bear witness to his fortitude. No desire 



180 NATHAN HALE. 

had he, like Andre, to concentrate admiration 
for the iron strength with which he could endure 
bodily suffering. No attempt did he make to 
brace his nerves by stimulating visions of posthu- 
mous applau.se. He had not the first faint con- 
ception even of shining in after ages, as a star 
among warrior-martyrs — as a brave man mere- 
ly — as the hero, the Promethean hero of the 
American Revolution. The lips of posterity 
might praise him, he may have desired — but it 
was only for his exalted moral purposes, and for 
his utter disinterestedness of spirit, that he 
could have wished its approbation. It was only 
because under the impelling power of a free, 
conscientious, self-rewarding, inspiring sense of 
patriotic duty, he struggled for the liberty and 
happiness of his fellow-men — because he ex- 
pired, nobly breathing out the whole body of his 
aifections upon his native land. 

Thus to be embalmed in the memory of man- 
kind, is worthy of every one's aspiration. It is 
a crown of immortality such as Hale himself, 



NATHAN HALE. 181 

had he foreseen it, would never have rejected — 
and which, thanks to the gratitude which his 
life and conduct, wherever known, can not fail 
to enkindle, he wears now — glorious upon his 
brow — and will continue to wear, brighter and 
brighter still, so long as time and posterity exist 
to chronicle" the happy years of our Republic, 



16 



APPENDIX 



A. 

Page 13. 

Genealogy of the Family of Capt. Nathan Hale. 
Bij Rev. Edward E. Hale of Worcester, Mass. 

Nathan Hale was directly descended from Robert Hale of 
Charlestown, Mass., one of the early settlers of the "Bay 
Colony/' in that State. 

Robert Hale belonged to the family of Hales of Kent, En- 
gland. There Avere in England at that time at least three large 
families of the name, belonging to different parts of the king- 
dom. These were the Hales of Kent, the Hales of Hertford, 
and the Hales of Gloucestershire. Of the last of these fami- 
lies was the celebrated Sir MatthcAv Hale, who Avas nearly con- 
temporary with Robert Hale, the emigrant to America, having 
been born in 1609, and died in 1676. 

From the Hales of Hertfordshire spring the family of Thomas 
Hale, one of the early settlers of NcAvbuiy, Massachusetts. Of 

16* 



186 APPENDIX. 

this family are a large part of those persons who now bear the 
name of Hale in New England.* 

Eobert Hale of Charlestown, and his descendants, of whom 
some account will here be given, retained the coat of arms of 
the Hale family of Kent ; to which therefore, there seems no 
doubt, that they belong.f 

This family existed in Kent as early at least as the reign of 
Edward III. Nicholas at Hales, then resided at Hales-place, 
Halden, Kent. His son, Sir Robert Hales, was Prior of the 
Knights of St. John, and Lord High Treasurer of England. 
He was murdered by Wat Tyler's mob, on Tower Hill, in 1381. 
His brother Sir Nicholas de Hales was the ancestor of three 
subdivisions of the family, described in Halsted's Kent, as the 
Hales of Kent, of Coven trj^, and of Essex. 

To the Kent family belonged, — we may say in passing down 
to the emigration of Robert Hales, — Sir James Hales, whose 
suicide by drowning led to the " case of Dame Hales " report- 
ed by Plowden, and commented on by the clowns in Hamlet. 
" Sir James Hales was dead, and how came he to his death ? 
It may be answered, by droAvning ; and who drowned him ? 
Sir James Hales ; and when did he drown him ? In his life 



*In the memoir of the late David Hale, of New York, nephew of Capt. 
Nathan, by Rev. Mr. Thompson, their descent is eiToneously attributed to 
the same family. Mr. Thompson undoubtedly was misled by the impres- 
sion at one time entertained by our distinguished genealogist, Mr. Somerby, 
that Robert Hale of Charlestown was the son of Richard Hale, the High 
Sheriff of Hertfordshire. But this Robert remained in England at least as 
late as 1666. 

t Gules, three broad arrows feathered argent. 



GENEALOCxY. 187 

time. So that Sir James Hales, being alive, caused Sir James 
Hales to die, and the act of the living man was the death of the 
dead man. And then for this offence it is reasonable to punish 
the living man who committed the offence, and not the dead 
man." Such and much more is the reasoning of one of the 
judges, which is directly alluded to by Shakespeare in the 
" Crowner's quest Law " of the clowns in Hamlet. 

Of the same family, after Robert Hale emigrated to America, 
was Sir Edward Hales, the loyal companion of James II. in his 
exile ; — made by him Earl of Tentcrden and Viscount Ton- 
stall. 

The name in England appears to have been spelt now with a 
final s — and now Avithout. Hale-place near Canterbury, a 
handsome seat now occupied by the family, bears the same 
name which the family in New England bears, — and its resi- 
dents spell their name in the same way. 

The family in New England begins, as has been said, with 

Gen. I. iRobert Hale, who arrived in Massachusetts in 
16.32. He was one of those set off from the first church in 
Boston to form the first church in Charlestown, in 1632; — of 
this church he was a deacon. He was a blacksmith by trade, — 
but appears to have also had a gift, which has been inherited by 
many of his descendants, for the practical application of the 
mathematics. Eor he was regularly employed by the General 
Court as a Surveyor of new plantations, until his deatli, which 
took place July 1 9, 1659. His Avife's name was Jane. After 
his death she married Richard Jacob of Ipswicli, and died July, 
1679. 



188 APPENDIX. 

iRobert Hale had the following children ; 

Gen. II. ^Rev. John Hale; b. June 3, 1636; d. May 15, 

1700; ^Mary; b. May 17, 1639; m. Wilson; -^Zacha- 

riah; b. April 3, 1641; d. June 5, 1643; ^Samuel; d. 1679. 
^'Johanna; b. 1638; m. John Larkin ; d. 1685. Of these 

■^Rev. John Hale, graduated at Harvard College in 1657. He 
was settled as the first minister of Beverly, Mass., when the 
first church of Beverly was separated from Salem in 1667 ; and 
remained in this charge to his death. He Avas one of three 
chaplains to the unfortunate Ncav England expedition to Canada 
in 1690. In this expedition lie was taken prisoner, but soon 
released. Two years aftei*, the Salem witchcraft excited the 
whole province. Mr. Hale was present at the examinations of 
some of those accused, and participated in the religious exer- 
cises at their trials. But in October, a person in Wenham 
accused Mrs. Hale of witchcraft. The accusation disabused 
liim of any delusion he had been under, and not him only, but 
the whole community. From that moment the whole tide turn- 
ed, — and the progress of infi\tuation Avas at an end. In 1697, 
he wrote and publislied "A modest inquiry into the nature of 
witchcraft, and how persons guilty of that crime may be con- 
victed ; and the means used for their discovery discussed, both 
negatively and affirmatively according to Scripture and experi- 
ence." In this discussion he laments the errors and mistakes 
of what he kncAV as the " Witchcraft delusion." 

He was three times married. 1st, to Rebeckah Byles, daugh- 
ter of Henry Byles of Sarum, England. She died April 13, 
1683, act. 45 vears. 2nd, Mar. 3, 1684, to Mrs. Sarah Noyes, 



GENEALOGY. 189 

of Newbury. She died May 20, 1695, aet 41 ; and 3rd, Aug. 
8, 1698, to Mrs. Elizabeth Clark of Newbury, who survived 
him. By the first two of these wives he had the following chil- 
dren. 

Gen. III. 1. "Rebeckah; b. Apr. 28, 1666; d. May 7, 
1681. 2. ^Robert; b. Nov. 3, 1688; d. 1719. He was the 
father of Col. Robert Hale of Beverly, who accompanied Shir- 
ley to the siege of Louisburg. The family mansion at Beverly 
remains in the family of his descendants, being now occupied 
by Mr. Bancroft. The male line in this family is extinct. 

3. 9Rev. James; b. Oct. 14, 1685; d. 1742. He was minis- 
ter of Ashford, Connecticut, and left a son, James Hale, from 
whom a large family descended. Of these Robert Hale, b. 
1749, was an officer in the Revolution, — and perhaps others. 

4. lOSamuel; b. Aug. 13, 1687 ; d. about 1724. 

5. iiJohanna; b. June 18, 1689. 

6. i^John ; b. Aug. 24, 1692. He was drowned by the over- 
setting of a boat in Wells River, — the only person drowned of 
the party, though the best swimmer. He left no sons. 

Of the children of ^Rev. John Hale, the fourth, as named 
above, was I'^Samuel. He settled in Newbury, Massachusetts, 
where on the 26th of August, 1714, he married Apphia Moody, 
who was born June 23, 1693. He lived in that part of New- 
bury known as Newburyport, and there all his children were 
born. He afterwards removed to Portsmouth, where he died 
about the year 1724. His children were 

Gex. IV. 1. i^Joanna; b. June, 1715; d. about 1792; m. 
Capt. Stephen Gerrish of Boscawen, N. H. 



190 APPENDIX. 

2. i-iRichard; b. Feb. 28, 1717; d. June 1, 1802; lived and 
died at Coventry. 

3. issamuel; b. Aug. 24, 1718;— gr. H. C. 1740; d. July, 
1807. He lived and died at Portsmouth. 

4. i^Hannah; b. Jan. 24, 1720; m. Jos. Atkinson of New- 
bury Jan. 23, 1744; d. about 1791. 

5. i7John; b. Jan. 16, 1721-2; d. about 1787; m. 

Of I'^Richard, the second of these children, Capt. Nathan 
Hale was the son. As the children of the rest were therefore 
his cousins, — and as some of them are alluded to in his coi*re- 
spondence, we add their names, — and the dates of their birth. 
Mrs. i^Joanna Gerrish and Capt. Stephen Gerrish had issue 
Gen. V. 1. i^Henry Gerrish ; b. 1742; (m. 1777 — he had 
seven children.) 

2. 19 Jenny ; m. Ames; (m. 1777 — she had two chil- 
dren.) 

3. ^ogamuel Gerrish ; b. 1748; (m. 1777— he had two chil- 
dren.) Probably this was Col. Samuel Gerrish, cashiered for 
conduct unworthy an officer at Bunker's Hill, and Sewall's Pt., 
Aug. 19, 1775 ; — a sentence pronounced by the J. advocate "far 
too severe." When the battle was fought neither he nor his 
officers were commissioned. 

4. 2iEnoch Gerrish; b. 1750; (m. 1777 — he had two chil- 
dren.) 

5. 22 Gerrisli (a Son,) b. 1756 ; d. Aug. 24, 1777. 

i^Richard Hale ; born in Newburyport Feb. 28, 1717 ; removed 

to Coventry, Connecticut ; — where he lived, and died June 1 , 
1802. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Strong Esq., 



GENEALOGY. 191 

of thiit place, on the 17th of May, 1746. She died April 21, 
1767. He married again, " the widow Adams " of Canterbury, 
Ct., by whom he had no issue. The children of the first mar- 
riage were 

Gen. V. 1. ^^Samucl; b. May 2.5, 1747 ; d. Apr. 17, 1824 ; 
without issue. 

2. 24john; b. Oct. 21, 1748; d. Dec. 22, 1802; without issue. 

3. 25 Joseph; b. Mar. 12, 1750; d. Apr. 29, 1784. 

4. 26Elizabeth; b. Jan. 1, 1752; d. Oct. 31, 1813. 

5. 27Enoch; b. Oct. 28, 1753; d. Jan. 4, 1837. 

6. 28NATHAN; b. June 6, 1755; executed at New York 
Sept. 22, 1776. 

7. 29Kichard; b. Eeb. 20, 1757; d. Feb., 1793. 

8. soBilly; b. Apr. 20, 1759; m. Booker, Jan. 19, 

1785; d. Sept. 7, 1785. 

9. siDavid ; ) ( d. Feb. 10, 1822. 

b. Dec. 14-15; 1761, 



10. ^^Jonathan ; ) ( d. Dec. 21, 1761. 

11. 33Joanna; b. March 19, 1764; d. Apr. 22, 1838. 

12. 34Susanna; b. Feb. 1, 1766; d. March, 1766. 
i^Samuel Hale of Portsmouth ; b. Aug. 24, 1718; gr. H. C. 

1740 ; d. July, 1807. He taught the Grammar Scliool at Ports- 
mouth for many years, served in the old French war, and was 
at one time Judge of the Common Pleas Court. He married 
Mary, daughter of Thomas Wright of Portsmouth. Their 
children were 

Gen. V. 1. 36Samuel, of Barrington, b. 1758; d. Apr. 28, 
1828. His sons were Samuel B. and John P. of Portsmouth ; — 



192 APPENDIX. 

of the last of whom Hon. John P. Hale, of the U. S. Senate, 
is the son. 

2. 36Thomas Wright, of Barrington; b. 1760. 

3. 37John; b. 1764; tutor at Harvard College from 1781 to 
1786; d. 1791. 

4. ^William; b. Aug. 6, 1765; m. Lj^dia Rollins Apr. 30, 
1794; d. Nov. 8, 1848, at Dover, N. H., where he had re- 
sided ; — leaving five living children. He represented the State 
in Congress six years, — and was often a member of the State 
Legislature. 

i^Hannah Hale ; b. January 24, 1720; m. Joseph Atkinson 
of Newbury, Jan. 23, 1744. They lived at Boscawen, N. H., 
where she died, about 1791. They had issue 

Gen. V. 1. 39Samuel Atkinson. 

2. *o Simeon Atkinson. 

3. *i Susanna Chad wick. 

4. *2Hannah Atkinson. 

5. *3Sarah Atkinson. 

17. John Hale; b. Jan. 16, 1721-22. He lived at Glouces- 
ter, (Cape Ann,) Mass., and died about 1787. He had issue 
Gek. V. 1. 4*Samuel (of York.) 

2. ^5 John. 

3. ^^Benjamin. 

4. ^'Ebenezer. 

5. *8Jane. 

6. ^^Sally. 

7. s^Hannah. 

In these lists of the fifth Generation, between the names num- 



GENEALOGY. 193 

bered 18 and 50, are all the cousins of Nathan Hale; and, 
under his father's family, his brothers and sisters. He died un- 
married. The following lists give the names of the children of 
his brothers and sisters. 

^^Samuel Hale ; oldest son of Dea. Richard Hale ; lived at 
Coventry, and died without issue, Apr. 17, 1824. 

2*Maj. John Hale; second son of Dea. Richard Hale; b. 
Oct. 21, 1748; m. Sarah Adams, at Coventry, Dec. 19, 1771, 
dau. of his father's second wife. They lived at Coventry, where 
he died, Dec. 22, 1802, without issue. His death was sudden. 
His widow, eager to carry out what she thought would have 
been his intentions, bequeathed £1000 to Trustees, as a fund, 
the income of which was to be used for the support of young 
men preparing for Missionary service, — and in part for found- 
ing and supporting the Hale Library in Coventry, to be used 
by the ministers of Coventry and the neighboring, towns. She 
died Nov., 1803, in less than one year after him. 

25Lieut. Joseph Hale; third son of Dea. R. Hale; b. Mar. 
12, 1750 ; was with the army near Boston, and, it is believed, 
to the close of the war. He served both in Knowlton's and 
Webb's regiments. Soon after his brother Nathan's death, he 
was in the battle of White Plains, and a ball passed through 
his clothes. Subsequently he was for a long time stationed at 
New London, where he became acquainted with Rcbcckah Har- 
ris, daughter of Judge Joseph Harris of that place. They 
were married Oct. 21, 1778. After the close of his service he 
settled in Coventry; — but his constitution, wliicli was naturallv 

17 



194 APPENDIX. 

very strong, was broken, and he feU into a decline, and died 
April 30, 1784, leaving four children— viz : 

Gen. VI. I. 5iElizabeth; b. Sept. 29, 1779; m. Nov., 
1801, Zebadiah Abbot of Wilton, N. H. They had four sons 
and five daughters. 

2. 52Rebeckah; b. Jan. 9, 1781; m. Oct., 1799, Dea. Ezra 
Abbot of Wilton, N. H. They had a large family of children, 
of whom three, Joseph Hale Abbot, Ezra Abbot, and Abiel 
Abbot, graduated at Brown College. 

3. 53Mary Hale; b. Nov. 23, 1782; m. in 1809, Rev. Levi 
Nelson of Lisbon, Ct. They have no issue. 

4. s^^Sarah Hale ; b. Nov. 27, 1783; died June 27, 1784. 
26Elizabeth Hale; oldest dau. of Dea. R. Hale; b. Jan. 1, 

1752 ; was married Dec. 30, 1773, to Dr. Samuel Rose, a Sur- 
geon in the army of the Revolution. He was son of Dr. Rose 
of Coventry. He died in the winter of 1800-1. Their chil- 
dren were 

Gen. VI. 1. 55Capt. Joseph Rose; b. Sept. 17, 1774; m. 
Milly Sweatland ; — settled in N. Coventry as a blacksmith. He 
died about 1835, leaving several children. 

2. 56Nathan Hale Rose; b. Nov. 18, 1776 ; grew up on the 
old homestead of his grandfather. He settled on the farm pre- 
viously occupied by his uncle Richard. He married 1st, Eunice 
Talcott, daughter of Dea. Talcott of N. Coventry. She died 
after a few years, leaving a daughter who died young. He 

married 2nd, the widow Perkins of Lisbon, Ct., by 

whom he had three sons and one daughter. 



GENEALOGY. 195 

3. °"Fanny Rose; b. Jan. 4, 1779; m, Dec, 1799, Sandford 
Hunt of N, Coventry; and died Feb, 6, 1845 — "an excellent 
woman." They settled in Batavia, N, Y. Of their family is 
Hon. Washington Hunt of New York,— and Lt. Hunt of the 
U. S. army. 

After the death of Dr. Samuel Rose, his widow, Mrs. Eliza- 
beth Rose, married John Taylor of Coventry. She died Oct. 
31, 1813. Their children were 

1. ^Elizabeth Taylor; m. Nathaniel Hubbard, of Vernon, 
and afterwards of Manchester, Ct. 

2. ^^David Taylor; married and died in N. York — without 
issue. 

27Enoch Hale ; fourth son of Deacon R. Hale ; b. Oct. 28, 
1753; entered Yale College with his brother Nathan 1769; gr. 
1773; studied Theology, and on the 28th of Sept., 1779, was 
ordained as minister of Westhampton, Mass., where he died 
Jan. 14, 1837, after an energetic and useful ministry of more 
than fifty-seven years. He was deeply attached to his brother 
Nathan, and profoundly affected by his fate. He married Sept. 
30, 1781, Miss Octavia Throop of Bozrah, Conn.,dau. of Rev. 
Mr. Throop of that place. She died Aug. 18, 1839. Their 
children were 

Gen. VI. 1. t^^Sally Hale; b. Aug. 2, 1782; m. Elisha 
B. Clapp of Westhampton, Nov. 27, 1800; d. Feb. 7, 1838, 
leaving seven children. 

2. "Nathan Hale; b. Aug. 16, 1784; m. Sarah Preston 
Everett of Boston, Sept. 5, 1816. 



196 APPENDIX. 

3. 62Melissa Hale; b. Feb. 26, 1786; m. Sept. 27, 1809, 
Henry Mc Call of Lebanon, Ct. They have eight children. 

4. ^^Octavia Hale; b. May 13, 1788; m. Dec. 19, 1811, 
William Hooker of Westfield, Mass. Of their four children 
three are living. 

5. 64Enoch Hale; b. Jan. 19, 1790; m. 1st, Sept. 6, 1813, 
Almira Hooker ; 2nd, May, 1 822, Sarah Hooker ; 3rd, May, 
1829, Jane Murdock ; d. Nov. 12, 1848, without issue. He 
studied chemistry and medicine, at Yale College, and at the 
Howard Medical School, and took his degree of M. D. at 
Cambridge, Aug. 20, 1813. He practiced with distinguished 
success for a few years in Gardner, Mass., and for the rest of 
his life in Boston. A memoir of him, by Dr. Walter Channing, 
was printed after his death. 

6. ^^Richard Hale ; b. July 2, 1792 ; m. Dec. 28, 1815, Lydia 
Rust, who died Jan. 10, 1837. He d. in 1839. 

7. 66Betsey Hale ; b. June 2, 1794; m. July 2, 1818, Levi 
Burt of Westhampton. They have had seven children. 

8. 67Sybilla Hale ; b. Sept. 3, 1797; m. 1819, Richardson 
Hall. Of their nine children seven are living. 

28NATHAN Hale, the subjcct of the preceding memoir, died 
without issue, as already stated. 

29Richard Hale ; sixth son of Deacon Richard Hale ; b. Feb. 
20, 1757; m. Mar. 16, 1786, Mary Wright of Coventry; he 
died Feb., 1793, at St. Eustatia in the W. Indies. His health 
had failed him, — and he had taken a voyage in hope of recover}\ 
They had issue 



GENEALOGY. 197 

Gen. VI. 1. esMary Hale; b. July 6, 1787; d. Dee. 10, 
1791. 

2. 69Laura Hale; b. Aug. 30, 1789; m. her cousin David 
Hale, then of Boston; (No. 72, post.) 

3. "OMary; b. Jan. 25, 1791 ; d. Oct. 2, 1793. 

After the death of Richard Hale, his widow married Nathan 
Adams of Canterbury, Conn., son of her father-in-law's second 
wife. They had no issue. She died in 1820. 

^^Billy Hale ; seventh son of Deacon Richard Hale ; b. Apr. 
23, 1759 ; m. Jan. 19, 1784, Hannah Barker of Franklin. He 
died of consumption in 1785, — leaving one son. 

Gen. VI. 1. ''iBilly; died in early life. 

^iDavid Hale ; eighth son of Deacon Richard Hale ; b. Dec. 
14, 1761 ; graduated at Yale College, 1785 ; — settled as a min- 
ister in Lisbon, Ct. He m. May 19, 1790, Lydia Austin, b. 
Dec. 9, 1764 ; daughter of Samuel Austin of New Haven. In 
1804, in poor health, he was dismissed from the church in Lis- 
bon, and removed to Coventry, where he became a Deacon of 
the church in 1806. He was also Representative of the town, 
and Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He died Feb. 10, 
1822. His widow died April 28, 1849. They had issue one 
child, viz : 

Gen. VL 1. "'^David Hale; b. Apr. 25, 1791 ; m. 1st, his 
cousin Laura Hale, (No. 69, above,) Jan. 18, 1815. She died 
July 25, 1824. lie m. 2nd, Aug. 22, 1825, Lucy S. Turner of 
Boston. 

•-^Joanna ; second daughter of Deacon Ricliard Hale ; b. 
March 19,1764; m. Jan. 22, 1784, Dr. Nathan Howard of 

17* 



198 APPENDIX. 

Coventry. He died Apr. 21, 1838, at the age of 77 years, and 
she the next day. They had 9 children, all of whom died in 
early childhood except, 

Gen. VI. 1. "3john HoAvard ; b. Nov. 10, 1784; m. Lucy 
Ripley, dau. of Judge Ripley of Coventry ; d. March 30, 1813. 
Their sons are Chauncey, John, and Ripley Howard. 

2. '^^Nathan Howard; b. March 20, 1795, — unmarried. 

Of the families of those of Capt. Nathan Hale's nephcAvs 
Avho bore his name, we can give the following memoranda : 

eiNathan Hale ; 1st son of 27Rev. Enoch Hale ; b. Aug. 16, 
1784; gr. Williams College, 1804, LL. D., Harvard Univ. 
1853. He has conducted for more than forty years the Boston 
Daily Advertiser. The active labors of his life have been 
largely devoted to the Internal Improvements of various States 
in America. He mamed, Sept. 5, 1816, Sarah Preston Everett, 
second daughter of Rev. Oliver Everett, minister of the new 
South Church, Boston. Their children are 

Gen. VII. 1. '^Sarah Everett Hale; b. July 8, 1817; d. 
May 16, 1851. 

2. '^Nathan Hale ; b. Nov. 12, 1818; gr. Harv. Coll. 1838. 
Co-editor of Boston Daily Advertiser. 

3. "Lucretia Peabody Hale ; b. Sept. 2, 1820. 

4. 't^Edward Everett Hale; b. Apr. 3, 1822; gr. Harvard 
College 1839 ; minister of the Church of the Unity, Worcester' 
Mass; m. Oct. 13, 1852, Emily Baldwin Perkins, b. Nov. 22, 
1830, daughter of Hon. Thomas C. Perkins of Hartford, Conn. 

5. '9A son ; born and died Apr. 3, 1824. 

6. ^"^ Alexander Hale ; born June 21, 1825 ; died Jan. 7, 1826, 



GENEALOGY. 199 

7. »iSusan Hale ; born Apr. 17, 1827 ; died Nov. 13, 1833. 

8. s^Alexander; b. July 1, 1829; gr. Harv. Coll. 1848; a 
civil engineer ; — lost in Pensacola harbor, in an attempt to 
rescue a shipwrecked crew, Aug. 22, 1850. 

9. s^Charles; b. June 7, 1831; gr. Harv. Coll. 1850. Co- 
editor in Boston Daily Advertiser. 

10. 84Susan Hale; b. Dec. 5, 1833. 

11. 85jane Hale ; b. Mar. 6, 1837 ; d. Jan. 27, 1838. 
esRichard Hale ; 3rd son of '^^Rev. Enoch Hale ; b. July 2, 

1792; m. Dec. 28, 181.5, Lydia Rust. She d. Jan. 10, 1837. 
He lived at Westhampton, and d. in 1839. 

Their children are 

Gen. Vn. 1. scphiletus C. Hale ; b. Oct. 5, 1816; m. Dec. 
19, 1839, Nancy H. Bannister, daughter of Jothani and Electa 
Bannister, Newburyport, Mass. 

2. 8" Augustus E. Hale; b. Aug. 18, 1818; m. 1841, Adaline 
G. Smith, dau. of Abram and Mary Smith, of Seabrook, N. H. 

3. ^^MaryHale; b. Sept. 4, 1820; m. Rev. Melzar Monta- 
gue — now of Wisconsin. 

4. 89Laura; b. Apr. 3, 1825 ; died at Westfield, Mass., April, 
1855. 

'■■^David Hale, only son of ^^Rev. David Hale ; b. Apr. 25, 
1791 ; m. 1st, his cousin Laura Hale, (No. 69 above,) Jan. 18, 
1815. She died July 25, 1824. He married 2nd, Aug. 22, 
1825, Lucy S. Turner of Boston. The beginning of his active 
life was spent in Boston, in mercantile occupations ; but in 
1826 he removed to New York. Here he became the biisiness 



200 APPENDIX. 

partner in the management of the Journal of Commerce news- 
paper, — and in the charge of that Journal, and in his active and 
earnest efforts in the establishment of Congregational churches 
and other religious and charitable enterprises, became widely- 
known and highly esteemed. His life, by Rev. J. P. Thomp- 
son, was published in 1850. His children are 

Gen. Vn. 1. 9^Mary Hale ; b. Mar. 11, 1816 ; m. May 27, 
1839, N. Stickney— now of Rockville, Ct. 

2. 9iLydia Hale; b. May 27, 1818; m. Apr. 23, 1838, Dr. 
T. T. Devan of New York ; — accompanied him to Canton as a 
missionary; and died without issue Oct. 18, 1846. 

3. 92Richard Hale; b. May 24, 1820 ; m. Oct. 28, 1844, Miss 
Julia Newlin. 

4. 93David Austin Hale; b. Sept. 3, 1822; m. Sept. 3, 1849, 
Miss M. I. Simonds of Athol, Mass. 

5. 9*Lucy Turner Hale; b. July 9, 1826; m. May 20, 1846, 
Stephen Conover, Jr., of New York. 

6. 95Laura Hale; b. Aug. 22, 1828; m. Dec. 21, 1848, J. 
W. Camp of New York. 

7. 9SCharlotte Hale ; born April 6, 1832. 

8. 9"Martha Louisa Hale; b. Aug. 5, 1834 ; d. Jan. 8, 1836. 
In the next generation, the Hales, who descend from Capt. 

Nathan Hale's brothers, are in the following lists. 

78Edward Everett Hale; b. Apr. 3, 1822; m. Oct. 13, 1852, 
Emily Baldwin Perkins of Hartford. They reside at Worces- 
ter, Mass., and have issue 

Gen. Vni. o^Ellcn Day Hale; b. Feb. 11, 1855. 

***^Philetus Hale; b. Oct. 5, 1816; m. Dec. 19, 1839, Nancy 



GENEALOGY. 201 

H. Bannister. They reside at Milwaukie, Wisconsin, and have 
issue 

Gen. VIII. 1. »9Edward Augustus Hale ; b. Sept. 26, 1840. 

2. I'^oWilliam Richard Hale; b. Aug. 28, 1842; d. Feb. 6, 
1843. 

3. 101 William Henry Hale ; b. July 8, 1845 ; d. Jan. 12, 1846. 

4. W2j^j[ary Bannister Hale; b. July 22, 1846; d. June 26, 
1851. 

5. loajohn Philetus Hale ; b. Aug. 23, 1850. 

6. lO^Louise Randall Hale; b. July 9, 1853. 

87 Augustus Hale; b. Aug. 18, 1818; m. 1841, Adaline G. 
Smith. They reside in Westhampton, Mass. , and have issue 

Gen. VIII. 1. lo^Laura Anna Hale ; b. August 12, 1842; 
d. Mar. 13, 1843. 

2. I'^SFrauk Augustus Hale ; b. Jan. 28, 1844. 

3. lo^Eugene Turner Hale ; b. May 22, 1846. 

4. lOSGeorge Wellington Hale; b. Sept. 18, 1849. 

5. lo^Isabella Eloise Hale; b. May 28, 1853. 

92Richard Hale; b. May 24, 1820; m. Oct. 28, 1844, Miss 
Julia Newlin. They reside in New York, and have issue 
Gen. VIII. iiOLouisa Newlin Hale ; b. July 22, 1845. 

2. iiiLydia Devan Hale; b. Sept. 7, 1846. 

3. ii-David Hale; b. Mar. 7, 1849; d. Jan. 28, 18.53. 
93David Austin Hale ; b. Sept. 3, 1822; m. Sept. 3, 1849, Miss 

M. I. Simonds. They reside in New York. Their only child 
was 

Gen. VIII. 113 William Nelson Hale; b. June 20, 1850; 
d. July 15, 1855. 



202 APPENDIX. 

This brings the list of Hales of Richard Hale's family up to 
the present time. It would have been agreeable to have ex- 
tended it farther by inserting the names of all the descendants 
of this venerable man, of whatever name. But this would have 
required more space than is at our command ; while we should 
have assumed a duty which will be gratefully performed, we 
doubt not, by the genealogists of the respective families whose 
names these cousins bear. 



B. ] 

Page 28. 

Sketch of Mrs. Lawrence. 

The following sketch of the appearance, mind, and manners 
of Mrs. Lawrence — from the pen of a highly intelligent lady, 
one of her grand-daughters, who long lived in her society and 
home — will be found very interesting. It is in no respect exag- 
gerated, as we learn from various sources — but, on the other 
hand, is accurate and just. Though communicated to us in the 
form of a note, and not designed for publication, we cannot 
forbear the pleasure of presenting it to our Headers here. 
Speaking of her grandmother, the writer thus proceeds : 

" In person she Avas rather below the middle height, with a 
full, round figure — rather petite. She possessed a mild, amiable 
countenance, in which was reflected that intellectual superiority 
v/hich distinguished her even in the days of Dwight, Hopkins, 
and Barlow, in Hartford — men who could appreciate her, who 
delighted in her wit and worth, and who, with a coterie of others 
of that period who are still in remembrance, considered her one 
of the brightest ornaments of their societv. 



204 APPENDIX. 

" A fair, fresh complexion, obtained in her early country 
life — bright, intelligent hazel eyes, and hair of a jetty black- 
ness — will give you some idea of her looks — the crowning glory 
of which was the forehead, that surpassed in beauty any I ever 
saw, and was the admiration of my maturer years. I portray 
her, with the exception of the hair, as she appeared to me in 
her eighty-eighth year. I never tired of gazing on her youthful 
complexion — upon her eyes, which retained their natural lustre 
unimpaired, and enabled her to read without any artificial aid — 
and upon her hand and arm, which, though shrunken some- 
what from age, must, in her younger days, have been a fit 
study for a sculptor. 

" Her character was everything that was lovely. A lady who 
had known her many years, wi-iting to me after her death, 
says — ' Never shall I forget lier unceasing kindness to me, and 
her noble and generous disposition. From my first acquaint- 
ance with her, and amidst all the varied trials through which 
she was called to pass, I had ever occasion to admire the calm 
and beautiful Christian spirit she uniformly exhibited. To you 
I will say it, I never knew so faultless a character — so gentle, 
so kind. That meek expression, and that affectionate eye, are 
as present to my recollection now, as though I had seen them 
but yesterday.' 

" Such is the language of one who had known her long and 
well, and whose testimony would be considered more impartial 
than that of one, who, like myself, had been the constant recipi- 
ent of her unceasing kindness and affection." 



c. 

Page 49. 

Hale's Diary. 

The following is the Diary of Captain Nathan Hale, to 
which reference is made in the text — and in the precise shape 
in which it was written by him. It has no pretension to any 
formality of plan, or elegance of composition, but is a succinct, 
often extremely abbreviated statement of events and experi- 
ences in his life, chiefly from the time lie left New London with 
his military company, until, with the army from around Boston, 
he marched for New York. A few pages are torn from the 
Camp Book which contains it — two or three from the beginning 
of the Diary, and one containing the entries of two days in 
November. Witli this exception, and a break also in the Diar}'- 
from September the thirtieth to October sixth, and again upon 
the sixteenth of October, the entries are regular and iminter- 
rupted from September twenty-third, 1775, to December the 
thirty-tirst. They begin again January twenty-fourth, 1776, 

18 



206 APPENDIX. 

and run over scA-en days. Two more in February, and four 
after Hale reached New York, complete the series of his memo- 
randa. The facts they contain are, many of them, of historical 
value. Even the little personal experiences and employments 
to which they allude, otherwise imimportant, will grow into 
some consequence with the Reader, when associated with the 
patriotic Martyr-Spy. They will all be found interesting, par- 
ticularly so when we reflect that, with a few letters, they form 
everything that is left us from the pen of one, who, had he lived 
to mature his youthful powers, to nurse his intellect, and polish 
his tastes, would probably have been a bright ornament either 
to the pulpit or the bar, or have graced perhaps the paths of 
literature as much as he graced the path of patriotism. 

" [Sep. 23'-^'.] Cannon, 40 or 50, heard from the last stage to 
the present. Marched 3j O'Cl — and arrived [at] Watermans, 
(a private house and entertainment good) after a stop or two. 
6^ O'CL, 6 m.— tarried all night. 

" 24»h. Mch'd 6 O'Cl., and at 8 O'CL, rcach'd Olney's, 4 m.— 
10 O'CL, mch'd from Olney's 2 miles, and reached Providence, 
but made no stop. Having march'd thro' the town with music, 
and nide a sht stp at the hither part, in the road, came 4 miles 
further to Slacks in Rehoboth, where we dined.* 4 O'CL, 



*" Received, Rehoboth, Sept. 24. 1775, of Nathan Hale Lieut' of Majf 
Latimer's Company, five shillings and ten pence lawful money for the use 
of my house and other trouble by sd Company. 

Eliphalet Slack.-' 

Several similar receipts, in the handwriting of Hale, save the signature, 
fuabling us to trace his positions, are found in his Camp-Book. 



hale's diary. 207 

rach'd from Slacks 6 m., and reach'd Daggetts in Attleborough, 
and put up, depositing our arms in the mtt? House. Soon after 
our arrival join'd by the Maj"^, who set out from home the nt 

bef . 

" 25^''. March'd soon after sunrise — and came very fast to Du- 
pree's in Wrentham, 9 m. to Breakfast. Arv'd 9 O'Cl. U set 
off, and 1^ P. M. arv'd [at] Hidden's, Walpole, and there din'd 
and tarried till 4^ O'Cl., and then march'd to Dedham, 7 m., 
and put up. 

" Tuesday 26"\ Mcli'd 5 m. before Breakfast to . For 

Dinner went 4^ m. to Parkers, which is within a mile and a 
half from Camp. At our arrival in Camp found that 200 men 
had been draughted for a fishing party. Pitched our tents for 
the present in Roxbuiy, a little before sunset. 

"Wednesday 27'''. Went to some of our lower works. 12 
or 15 of the fishing party return, and bring 11 Cattle and 2 
horses. 

" Thursday 28'''. Fishing party returned. 

"Friday 29'^ Mch'd for Cambridge. Arv'd 3 O'CL, and 
encamped on the foot of Winter hill, near General Sullivan's 3 
Com'" Maj""^ C Shipmans, Bostwick. 

" Sat. 30"'. Considerable firing upon Eoxbury side in the 
forenoon, and some P. M. No damage done as we hear. 
Join'd this day by Cp'= Perril and Levnwth about 4 O'Cl. 

"Octo. 6t'» 1775. Near 100 Can« fired at Roxbury from the 
Enemy. Shot off a man's arm, and kill'd one Cow. 

" 7'''. Some firing from Boston neck — nil mat. 



208 APPENDIX. 

"8^''. Sab. A. M. rainy — no meet-. Mr Bird pr. Water- 
town P. M. AVent to meet? on the hill. Mr Smith pr. 

"9'^, Monday. Morn" clear and pleas', but cold. Exers** 
men 5 O'Cl. 1. h. 

"Tuesday 10'^. Went to Roxbury — dined with Doc^' Wol- 
cott at General Spencers Lodg'. P. M. rode down to Dorches- 
ter, with a view to go on upon the point ; but Col' Fellows told 
us he could give us no leave, as Ave had been informed in town. 
Return'd to Camp 6 O'Cl. 

"Wed. 11"\ Bro"^ Joseph here in the morning — went to 
Cams* 12 O'CL— sent a letter to Bro>^ Enoch by Sam^ Turner. 
Inform'd by Jop'* that he was to be examin'd to day for — . 
Saw Eoyal Flynt — ^pr'^ to write him. Rec^ a letter from Gil- 
Salt' w^ infJ y^ Schooner by St Johns taken — all y" men kill'', 
and y' 8,000 bush'^ of wheat had been taken and carried to 
Norwich f-" Christ. Champlin's ship run agr'^ at Stonins'". 
Reed letter 9"> from Gil. Salt. Do 9''' f'" John Hallam— 8"> E. 
Hale. A heavy thunder show"^ in y* even?. 

" Thurs. 12"^. Wrote 6 letters to N. L. Saw C Sage. Inf^^ 
Montreal held by Montgomery — St Johns off'' to capitulate, but 
refusing to deliA'er guns, Johnson's terms were refused ; but 
must soon sun-ender. P. M. Went into Cambridge. Took 
the Cambs^ Paper — pd 3 coppers. 

"Friday 13^''. Inf"'^ by L' Col' that Col' AVebb last night 
gave orders that Field Officers Lieutenants should wear yellow 
Ribbons — put in one accordingly. Walk'' to Mis'' for clothes. 

* * * 



209 



"Sat. 14»i. Mounted picket guard. GoV Griswold at 
plough'^ hill. Rumours of 25,000 troops from England. 

"Sab. 15"'. Mr Bird pr. P. M. After meeting walk'd to 
Mistick. 

"Tuesday 17^''. A Serg' Major deserted to the Regulars. 

"Wed. 18"'. A Private deserted to the enemy. Last night 
a cannon split in our floats batt'ry when fir? upon B. Com- 
mon — 1 of our men kilFd — another said to be mortally wound- 
ed — 6 or 7 more wounded. Rec' Letters — G. Salstontall, 
16"'— J. Hallam, U'^—B. Hallam, 15"'— E. Adams, 16^^^ In 
Mr. Sals" Letter rec'' News of the publishment of Thomas Poole 
and Betsey Adams on the 15"'. 

"Thursday 19"'. Wrote 4 letters— to Messrs G. Sals', and 
John Hallam, and to Misses Bet. Adams and Hallam. 3 peo- 
ple inhabitants of Boston sd to have escaped on Rox>' side last 
night. Several guns were fired at them which were heard here at 
Winter hill. This morning one of our horses wand'' down near 
the enemy's lines, but they durst not venture over to take him 
on account of Rifle" placed at y= old ChimJ' ready to fire upon 
them. A sick man at Temples found to have the small pox. 

" Friday 20"'. Wet and rainy. News from Roxbury yi 9 
persons, 5 of them inhabitants, and 4 of them Sailors, made 
their escape last night from Boston to Dorchester Point, who 
bring accounts y' 10,000 Hanoverian & 5,000 Scotch and Irish 
Troops are hourly expected in Boston. Cpt. Perrit ref* sunset 
from Connecticut. News y' Col. elos^ Trumbull Comm>' Gen^ 
was at the point of Death. 

18* 



210 APPENDIX. 

" Sat. 21 s'. Constant rain & for y'^ most part hard for y^ 
whole day. A letter communicated to the off* of y« Reg^ f ■" 
G. Washgt" to Coll ^ebb with orders to see Avhat Off''* will 
extend y« term of th'' service f"" 6^^ Decemb"^ to 1*' Jan? — Col. 
Webb issii'd ord"^* for removing a man who was yesterday dis- 
covered to have y^ small pox from Temple's house to y^ hospi- 
tal — but the off'^^ remonstrating, suspended his orders. Sun 
set clear. 

" Sab. 22"^'. Mounted piquet guard — had charge of the ad- 
vance Piquet. Nil. mem. Mistick Comm^^ refus'd to deliver 
prov'"^ to Comp'«^ which had had nothing for y« day. On 
which Cpt. Tuttle and 60 or 70 men went, and as it hap'"J terror 
instead of force obtain'd the provisions. On Piquet heard 
B-eg" at work Avith pick axes. One of our Centries heard their 
G. Rounds give the Countersign — which was Hamilton. Left 
P. guard, and refi to Cp at sunrise on the — 

" 23'^d ]\/[on. 10 O'Cl., went to Cambridge w^'^ Fid Com"=* 
officers to Gen^ Putnam, to let him know the state of the Reg^, 
and y' it was thro' ill usage upon the Score of Provisions y^ 
thy wld not extend their term of service to the P'of Jan' 1776. 
Din'd at Browns — dr"^ 1 bottle wine — walk'd about street — call'd 
at Josh. Woodbridge's on my way— and ret"^ home about 6 O'Cl. 
Rec^i confirmation of day before yesterday's report yt Cpt. Coit 
mde an Admiral. Rec^ lett. Ed. Hallam, IS^''. 

" 24^'', Tuesday. Some rain. W to Mistick with clothes, to 
be washed (viz. 4 Shirts, Do Necks, 5 pair Stockings, 1 Nap- 
kin, 1 Table Cloth, 1 Pillow case, 2 Linen and 1 Silk Handker- 
chief). P. M. Got Brick and Clay for Chimney. Winter Hill 



hale's diary. 211 

came down to wrestle, w'' view to find out our best for a wrest- 
ling match to which this hill was stumped by Prospect, to be 
decided on Thursday ensu^. Evening Prayers omitted for 
wrestling. 

" 25i'\ Wednesday — no letters. 

"26''', Thursday. Grand Wrestle on Prospect Hill — no 
wager laid. 

"Friday, 27"'. Mcss'^^ John Hallam and David Mumford 
arvd. 

"Sat. 28"'. Somewhat rainy. 

" Sab. 29"'. Went to meeting in the barn — one exercise. 
After meeting walk'd with Cpt Hull and Mr Hallam to Mistick. 

" Sat. 28"'. At night Serg' of the enemy's guard deserted 
to us. 

"Monday, 30"'. Some dispute with the Subalterns, about 
Cpt Hull and me acting as Captains. The Col. and Lieut Col. 
full in it that we ought to act in that capacity. Brigade Maj"^ 
and Gen' Lee of the same opinion. Presented a petition to 
Gen' Washington for Cpt Hull and myself, requesting the pay 
of Cpts — refused. Mr Gurley here at Din''. P. M. Went 
into Cambridge with Mr. Mumford. 

"Tuesday, 3P^ Wrote letters to Father, and brother John 
and Enoch. P. M. Went to Cambridge — dr. wine &c at Gen' 
Putnams. 

"Wednesday, Novem. P' . Mounted Piquet guard — nil 
mem. Rec'd 3 Letters fr"" S. Belden, G. Salt., and B. Hallam. 
The P' inf '"^ he had no Scarlet Coating &c., and also reminded 
me of 20s due to him by way of change of a 40s Bill rec'd for 



212 APPENDIX. 

Schooling (forgot). 2"^ inf«d that (as per Philadelphia paper) 
Peyton Randolph died of an Apoplexy 22"^ ult. 3^J inf^-^ 
Sheriff Christopher is dead. 

" Wed. P' . Came off from Piquet Guard 10 O'Cl. 1 1 do w* 
to Cam?« with Cpt Hull — dined at Gen' Putnam's with Mr. 
Learned. Inf "^'^ Mr Howe died at Hartford 2 months ago — not 
heard of before. Col' Parson's Reg' under arms to suppress y^ 
mutinous proceedings of Gen' Spencer's Reg' — one man hurt in 
the neck by a bayonet (done j-esterday.) Ret"'^ to Camp 6 O'Cl. 

" Thursday 2°<^. Rain constantly, sometunes hard. Receiv'd 
a flying Report that the Congress had declared independency. 

" Friday S""''. Nil mem. 

"Sat. 4"'. Mr Learned and myself din'd at Col' Halls. 
Deac" Kingsbury's son visited me. P. M. Cpt Hull and my- 
self w' to Prospect Hill. 

"Sunday 5"'. A. M. Mr Learned pr. John 13, 19 — excel- 
lentissime. A little after twelve a considerable number of can- 
non from the Enemy, in memory of the day. Din'd with Cpt 
Hull at Gen' Putnams. Rec'd news of the taking of Fort 
Chamblee, with 80 odd soldiers, about 100 women & children, 
upwards of 100 barrels of Powder, more than 200 barrels of 
pork, 40 do of flour, 2 Mortars and some cannon. The women, 
wives to Officers in St Johns, were brought to St Johns, and 
there their Husbands permitted to come out, and after spending 
some time with them, return. Also News of a vessel taken by 
one of our privateers fr. Phi* to B-n, w'' 104 pipes of wine — 
another from the West Indies with the produce of that Country. 
Rec'd a letter from bro. Enoch— Nov. 1. Coventry pr. Daniel 



male's diary. 213 

Robertson, who is to make me a visit tomorrow. The paper, 
in which the Officers sent in their names for new commissions 

return'd for more Subalterns. Ens" Pond and put down 

th'' names. Those who put down their names the first offer, 
[are] CoP Webb and Hall, Capt^ Hoyt, Tuttle, Shipman, Bost- 
wick, Perrit, Levenworth, Hull and Hale — Sub'* Catland. 

"Monday, 6'^. Mounted Piquet guard in y" place of Cpt 
Levenworth. A Rifleman deserted to y^ Regulars. Some wet. 
Day chiefly spent in Jabber and Chequers. Cast an eye upon 
Young's Mem', belongs to Col. Varnum — a very good book. 
Comp' of y^ bad condition of y« lower Piquet by Maj^ Cutler 
&c. It is of the utmost importance that an Officer should be 
anxious to know his duty, but of greater that he shd carefully 
perform what he does know. The present irregular state of the 
army is owing to a capital neglect in both of these. 

" Tuesday, 7^''. Left Piquet 10 O'Clock. InfJ Maj' Brooks 
app*'' for this Reg' — new establishment — wh. occas^' much unea- 
siness among the Cpts. Rain pretty hard most of the day. 
Spent most of it in the Maj'", my own and other tents in conver- 
sation — some chequers — Studied y'' best method of forming a 
Regt for a review, of arraying y® Companies, also of marching 
round y^ reviewing Officer. A man ought never to lose a mo- 
ments time. If he put off" a thing from one minute to the next, 
his reluctance is but increased. 

" Wednesday 8"'. Cleaned my gun — pld some football, and 
some chequers. Some People came out of Boston via Roxb''. 
Rec'd N. of Cpt Coit's taking two prizes, with Cattle, poultry, 



214 APPENDIX. 

iiay, rum, wine, &c. &c. — also verbal accounts of the taking of 
St Johns. 

" Thursday, 9^''. 1 O'Cl. P. M. An alarm. The enemy 
landed at Lechmeres Point, to take off cattle. Our works were 
immediately all mann'd, and a detachment sent to receive them, 
Avho were obliged, it being high water, to wade through water 
nearly waist high. While the Enemy were landing, we gave 
them a constant Cannonade from Prospect Hill. Our party 
having got on to the point, marched in two columns, one on 
each side of y« hill, with a vicAv to surround y« enemy, but upon 
the first appearance of them, they made their boats as fast as 
possible. While our men were marching on to y« point, they 
were exposed to a hot fire from a ship in the bay, and a floating 
Battery — also after they had passed the hill. A few shot were 
fired from Bunker's Hill. The damage on our side is the loss 
of one Rifleman taken, and 3 men wounded, one badly, and it 
is thought 10 or more cattle carried off". The Rifleman taken 
was drunk in a tent, in which he and the one who received the 
worst wound were placed to take care of the Cattle, Horses &c., 
and give notice in case the enemy should make an attempt 
upon them. The tent they were in was taken. What the loss 
was on the side of the enemy we cannot yet determine. At 
night met with the Capt^ of y^ new establishment at Gen' SuUi- 
vans to nominate Subaltei^is. Lieut^ Bourbank of Col' Doolit- 
tle's Regi made my P' L^— Serg^ Chapman 2"^ & Serg' Hurl- 
burt Ens". 

"Friday, 10"'. Went upon the hill to see my new Lieut^ 
Bourbank, and found him to be no very great things, On my 
return found that ray Br. & Joseph Strong had been here and 



hale's diary. 215 

enquired for me. Immediately after dinner went to Cambr. to 
see them, but was too late. Went to head quarters — saAv Gen^ 
Sullivan, and gave him a description of my new Lt. He said 
he would make enquiry concerning him. On my return fo. the 
abo. Lt at my tent, agri'is to my invitation. After much round 
about talk persuaded him to go with me to the Gen', to desire 
to be excused from the service. The Gen' not being at home, 
deferr'd it till another time. 

"Saturday, ll"'. Some dispute about the arrangement of 
Subs. — but not peaceably settled. 

" Sunday 12"». This morning early a meeting of Capts., 
upon the above matter, and not ended until near noon. No 
meeting A. M. P. M. Mr Bird pr. 

" Monday, 13"'. Our people began to dig turf under Cobble 
Hill. Inlistments delivered out. At night a man of our Reg^ 
attempted to desert to the Reg" , but was taken. 

"Tuesday, 14^''. Some uneasiness about Subs. P. M. 
Went to Cambr. nil mem. Gen' orders of to day contained an 
account of the reduction of St Johns. Dig? sods under Col)ble 
Hill continued." 

Here follow, copied by Hale's hand, long and minute " Di- 
rect ioiis for the Guards" — twenty-one Articles in number — after 
which his Diary thus continues : 

"Wednesday, 15'''. Mounted Main guard. Heard read the 
articles of surrender of St Johns. Likewise an account of the 
I'epulse of our piratical enemies at Hampton in Virginia, with 
the loss of a number of men — (in a handbill). Three deserters 
made tlieir escape from Boston to Roxbury last night. Two 



216 APPENDIX. 

prisoners were taken tliis afternoon in the orchard below 
Plough'd Hill, who, with some others, were getting apples. 
They bring accounts that it was reported in Boston that our 
army at St Johns was entirely cut off. That last week when 
they attempted to take our cattle at Sewels point they kill'd 50 
or 60 of our men, wounded as many more, and had not a man 
either killed or wounded — whereas in truth we had only one 
that was much wounded, and he is in a way to recover. Rec'd 
a letter from J. Hallam. 

"Thursday, IG^h. Releiv'd from Piquet, 8^ O'Cl. Con- 
fined James Brown of Cpt Hubbel's company for leaving the 
guard, which he did yesterday towards night, and did not return 
until 4 O'Cl. this morning, Avhen he was taken up by the centi- 
nel at the door of Temple's House. As it appeared he was 
somewhat disguised witli liquor, I ordered him confined and 
reported, 

"Thursday 16^''. Wrote two letters — 1 to J. Hallam, and 1 
to G. Salt'. It being Thanksgiving in Connecticut, the Capts 
and officers in nomination for the new army had an entertain- 
ment at T's house provided by Capt. Whitney's Sutler. They 
were somewhat merry, and inlisted some soldiers. I Avas not 
present. About 10 or 11 O'Cl. at night Orders came for rein- 
forcing the Piquet wnth 10 men from a Com^. 

"Friday, 17"'. Rec'd an order from Colonel Hall for taking 
up at the continental Store 4 pr Breeches, 6 Do Stock=% 5 Do 
Shoes, 1 Shirt, 1 buff" Cap, 1 pr Indian Stocks-^ 5^ y^i^of 
Coatg, — all which I got but the Shirt, Indian Stock?% 1^ y^ 
Coat"", and shoes, which are to come tomorrow inoniing. Cpt. 



H ale's diary. 217 

Hull w^'' some of his soldiers Avent w"' me to Camb?'=. Rctuni'd 
after dark. Stop'd at Gen' Lees to see about Furl' for men in- 
listed, who ordered tlie gen' orders for the day to be read, by 
whieli Furloughs are to be given b}^ Col'' only, and not more 
than 50 at a time must have tliem out of a Reg'. Gen' orders 
further contained tliat the Congress had seen fit to raise the pay 
of the officers from what they were — and that a Cpt. upon the 
new establishment is to receive 26| Dollars per month — a l^i 
and 2'"' Lieut' 18 Dollars, and an Ens" 13^ Dollars. 

"SaturdaA^, 18"'. Obtained an order from Colo. Webb upon 
the Q. M. G. for things for the soldiers. Went for them after- 
noon — returned a little after Sunset. 

" Sabbath Day, 19^''. Mr Bird pr. — one service only, begin- 
ning after 12 O'Cl. Text Esthers"' 6. For how can I endure 
to see the evil that shall come unto my people, or how can I 
endure to see the destruction of my kindred ''. The discourse 
ver\- good — the same as preached to Gen' Wooster, his officers 
and Soldiers, at Newhaven, and which was again preached at 
Caml)ridge ;i Sabbath or two ago. Now preached as a farewell 
discourse, llobert Latimer, the Maj^** son, went to Roxbury to 
day on his way home. The Maj'' who went there to day, and 
Lt Hurllnirt, and Robert Latimer F, who went yesterday, re- 
turned this even? and b' ace'' that the Asia Man of War, sta- 
tioned at New York, was taken by a Schooner armed with Spears 
&c., whicli at first appeared to ])e going out of the Harbour, and 
was bro' too by y- Asia, and instead of coming imder her stern, 
just as she come up shot along side. The men who were before 

19 



218 APPENDIX. 

coiiceard, imtnediately sprung up Avith their lanees &.Q., and 
Avent at it with such vigor that they soon made themselves mas- 
ters of the ship. The kill'd and wounded not known. This 
account not credited. Sergeant Prentis thought to be dying 
about 12 Meridian — some better, if any alterat" this evening. 

"Monday 20"'. Obtain'd furloughs for 5 men, viz., Isaac 
Hammon, Jabez IVIinard, Christopher Beebe, John Holmes, and 
William Hatch, each for 20 Days. Mounted m" Guard — 4 pris- 
oners — nil mem., until 10 O'Cl, when an alarm from Cambr. and 
Prospect Hill, occasioned our turning out. Slept little or none. 

"Tuesda)^, 2P^ Releiv'd by Cpt Hoyt. Serg^ Prentis very 
low. Colo, and some Cpts went to Cambr. to a Court M., to 
Cpt Hubbel's Trial, adjourn'd from yesterday to day, Even- 
ing spent in conversation. 

"Wednesday, 22"''. Sergt Prentis died about 12 O'Cl. last 
night. Tried to obtain a furlough to go to Cape Ann, and keep 
Thanksgiving, but could not succeed. Being at Geni Sullivans, 
heard Gen' Green read a letter from a member of the Congress, 
expressing wonder at the Backwardness of the Oft"'"^ and Sol- 
diers to tarry the winter — likewise informing that the men inlis- 
ted fast in Pennsylvania and y Jcrsies for 30s. per montli. Some 
hints dropt as if there was to be a change of the " 

Here a leaf of the Camp-Book is gone, and the Diary recom- 
mences as follows : 

" Saturday, 25"'. Last night 2 sheep kill'd belonging to the 
En"'y. This morning considerable firing between the Gentries. 
A Rifleman got a Dog from tlie Regulars. Col. A'arnum 
offer'd a Guinea for iiim, tlie [same] that Geni Lee Iiad oft'er'd. 



219 



10 O'Cl, A. M. went to Cobble Hill to view. Another 
bvongfit to the Ferry way — two tliere now. P. M. Went to 
Cambr. Ret'^ "Sunset. * # # Heard further that 
200 or 300 j)Oor people had been set on shore last night by the 
Kegulars — the place not known, but s'-^ to be not more than 6 or 
8 miles from lience. Cannon were heard this forenoon, seeming 
to 1)6 oft' in the bay, and at some distance. Observ'd in coming 
from Cambr. a number of Gabines at Gen' Lee's, said to be for 
the purpose of fortifying upon Lechmeres point. 

" •26'^\ Sunday. William Hatch of Major Latimer's Co. died 
last night, having been confin'd about one week — He has the 
whole time been in , and great part of it out of his Senses. 
His distemper was not really known. He was buried this 
afternoon — few peoj^le attended his funeral. Reported that the 
people were set ashore at Chelsea, and bring acc^s that the 
Troops in Boston had orders to make an attack on Plough'd 
Hill, when we first began our works there, but the Officers, a 
number of them, went to Gen' Howe, and off'cred to give up 
their Commissions, absolutely i-efusing to come out and be 
butchered by the Americans. Mounted Main Guard this morn- 
ing. Snowy. Lt Chapman rec'd Recruiting ord""^ , and set out 
home, proposing to go as far as Roxbi" to day. 

(( 271''^ Monday. Nil. mem. Evening went to Gen' Lee's, 
whom I found very much cast down at the discouraging pros- 
pect of supplying the army with troops. 

" 28'', Tuesday. Promised the men if they -would tarry 
another month, they sliould have my wages for that time. 
Gen' Sullivan return 'd. Sent order to Fraser Q. M., to send 



220 APPENDIX. 

us some wood. Went to Cambr. — could not be served at the 
store. Return'd — observ'd a greater number of Gabines at 
Gen' Lee's. Inf at Cambr. v' Gen> Putnam's Retr^ mostly 
concluded to tarry another mouth. (This a he.) 

" 29^^', Wednesday. The Eeg' drawn up before Gen' SuUi- 
A-ai's. After he had made them a most excellent si)eech, desired 
them to signify their minds, whether they would tarry till the P^ 
of January. A^'er}- few fell out, but some gave in their names af- 
terwards. Read News of the taking of a vessel loaded w^'' ordi- 
nance and stores. 

" 30'h, Thursday. Obtain'd a furlough for Ens" Hurlburt for 
20 Days. Sent no letters to day on account of the hurry of 
business. 

[December.] " V\ Friday. W to Cambridge. A Number of 
men, about 20 in the whole, confined for attempting to go home. 
Our Reg' this morning, by means of General Lee universally 
consented to tarry until the Militia came in, and by far the 
greater part agreed to stay until tlie first of Jan. 

" 2^, Saturday. Orders rec'd to the Reg' that no one Officer 
or Soldier should go beyond Drum call from his alarm post. 
Went to Mistick with Gen' Sullivan's order on Mr Eraser for 
things wanted by the Soldiers who are to tarry till the 1*' of 
January, but found he had none. 

" 3", Sunday. Wet weather. N3 pr. Ev° got an ord'' from 
B. G. Sullivan upon Colo. Mifflin for the above mentioned arti- 
cles, not to be had at Erasers. 

"4"', Monday. Went to Cambridge to draAv the above arti- 
cles, but the order was not accepted. Rec'd News y' several 



■ male's diary. 221 

prizes had I)ceii taken by our Privateers, amon<^ wliich was a 
Vessel from Scotland, ballast'd with coal — the rest oflier cargo 
dry goods. Cpt Bulkley and Mr Chamberlain, from Colches- 
ter, with cheese. Purchased 107 ll>s at 6p. per lb., for whicli I 
gave an order upon Maj' Latimer. 

"5''', Tuesday. Rec'd News of the Death of John Bowers, 
Gunner in Cpt Adam's Privateer, formerly of Maj' Latimers 
Company. 

" 6'ii, Wednesday. Upon main Guard. Nil. mem. Rec'd 
some letters per Post. Col. Doolittle, Officer of the Day, inf '^ 
that Col. Arnold had arrived at point Levi near Quebec. 

" 7''', Thursday. Went to Cambridge to draw things. 

" 8"^'^ Friday. Did some writing. Went P. M. to draw 
money for our expenses on the road from N. L. to Roxbury, 
but was disappointed. 

" 9"', Nil mem. Saturday. 

"10"'. Struck our tents, and the men chiefly marched off. 
Some few remaining came into my room. At night Charles 
Brown, Daniel Talbot, and W'" Carver returned from Priva- 
teering. Assisted Maj'" Latimer in making out his Pay Roll. 
Somewhat unwell in the evening. 

"11"', Monday. Finish'd the pay roll, and settled some 
accounts — about 12 O'Cl. Maj' Latimer set out home. 1 or 
more Companies came in to day for our relief. 

•' 12''', Tuesday. A little imwell yesterday and to day. 
Some better this evening. 

" LS^h^ Wednesday. On Main Guard. Rec'd and wrote 
some letters. Read the History of Pliilip. 

19* 



222 APPENDIX. 

" 14"', Thursday. Went to Cambridge. Visited Maj' 
Brooks — ^found him uawell with an ague. Capt, Hull taken vio- 
lently ill yesterday — remains very l)ad to day — has a high fever. 

" 15'h, Friday. Nil mem. 

"16"\ Sat. Our people began the covered way to Lech- 
mere's Point. 

« 

" 17"', Sunday. Went to Mistick to meeting. Some firing 

on our people at Lechmere's point. 

"18"', Monday. Went to Cambridge to draw things. The 
Reg' paraded this morning to be formed into two companies, 
that the rest of the officers might go home. Heard in Cambridge 
that Cpt Manly had taken another prize, with the Gov"^ of one of 
the Carolinas friendly to us, and the Hon. Matthews Esq' Memb. 
of the Continental Congress, whom Gov'" Dunmore liad taken 
and sent for Boston. 

" 19"^ Tuesday. Went to Cobble Hill. A shell and a shot 
from Bunker's Hill. The shell breaking in the air, one piece 
fell and touched a man's liat, but did no harm. AVorks upon 
Leclimere's Point continued. 

" 20"'", Wed. Went to Eoxbury for moucy left for me by 
^laj'" Latimer with Gen' Spencer, who refused to let me have 
it without security. Draw'd some things from the Store. 
L' Catlin and Ens" Whittlesey set out home on foot. 

"2P', Thursday. Wrote a number of letters. Went to 
Cambridge to carry them, where I found Mr Hempstead had 
taken up my money at Geni Spencer's, and given his receipt. 
I took it of Hem])stead, giving my receipt. The sum was 
£36, 10s, Od. # * # 



male's diary. 223 

" 22 ', Friday. Sonic Shot from the Enemy. 

" 23'', Saturday. Tried to draw 1 month's advance pay for 
my Company, Init found I could not have it till Monday next. 
Upon which borrowed 7G ])ollars of Cpt Lcvcnworth, giving 
him an order on Col' Webb for tlie same as soon as my advance 
pay for January should be drawn. 3f O'Cl, P. M. Set out from 
Cambridge on my way liome. At Watertown took the wrong 
road, and went two miles directly out of the way — which had 
to travel right back again. And after ti-avelling al)Out 11 miles 
put up at Hammons, Newtown, about 7 O'Cl. Entertainment 
pretty good. 

" 24"\ Sunday. Left II's 6^ O'Cl. Went 8 miles to Stray- 
tons, passing by Jackson's at 3 miles. Breakfasted at Stray- 
tons. The snow which began before we set out this morning 
increases, and becomes burthensome. From Straytons 9 miles 
to Stones — where we eat Biscuit and drank cyder. 7 miles to 
Jones — dined — arv'd 3^ o'cl. From there 2 m., and forgot some 
things, and went back — then returu'd. To Dr. Reeds that 
night. Pass'd Amadons and Keiths 3 m. Good houses. With- 
in h m. of Dr. Reeds miss'd my road, and went 2 m. directly 
out of my Avay, and right backtravcll'd — in the whole to day 41 
miles. The weather stormy, and the snow for the most part 
ancle deep. 

"25"', Monday. From Dr. Reeds 8 O'Cl. Came 1 or2in., 
and got horses. 4 m. to Hills, and In-eakfastcd — ordinary. 8 
m, to Jacobs, and din'd. Dismiss'd our horses. 6 O'Cl. arv'd 
Keyes 11 m.,'and put up. Good entertainment. 

"26''', Tuesday. 6 O'Cl. A. M. Fr. K. 6 in., to Kiudals— 



224 APPENDIX. 

breakfasted. 1 on to Southwards — diu'd. Settled acc'° with L^ 
Sage — d'^ h'li 16 dollars for paymg Soldiers 1 month's advance 
pay. Arv'd home a little after sunset. One heel string lame. 

"27">, Wed. Heel lame. W to Br. Roses. Aunt Rob^ 
MrHun^on and Cpt Robs. 

"28^^ Thursday. Unwell— tarried at home. 

" 29^'^ Friday. Went to see G. C. Lyman. Call'd at Dr. 
Kingsbury's and Mr. Strongs. 

" Jan>' 1776. 24''', Wednesday. Set out from my Fathers 
for the Camp on horseback, at 7^ O'Cl. At 11 O'Cl. arv'd at 
Perkin's, by xVshford Meethig House, where left the horses. 
12^ O'Cl. nich'' — 3|- arv'd Grosvenors, 8 m., and 4^ at Grosvc- 
nor's, Pomfret 2 m., and put up. Here met 9 Sold'' fr. Wind- 
ham. 

" 25''', Thursday. 6^ O'Cl. mch' from G., and came to Forbs 
7 m., but another Co. hav^ engaged l)reakfast there, we were 
obliged to pass on to Jacobs (from Grov. 18"') — After Breakfast 
went 8 m. to Hills, and dr'' some bad cyder in a worse tavern. 
7 O'Cl. arv'd Deacon Reeds, 5 m., Uxbi-idge, and ^ com*' put up, 
myself w''' remainder passed on to Woods, 2 m. 

" 26'!', Friday. 7 O'Cl. fr. Woods 4 m. to Almadons Mendo- 
reld — breakfasted. 1 7 m. to Clark's, Medfield, and put up, — Co. 
put up 5 m. back. 

''27^ Saturday. Breakfasted at Clark's, 10 O'Cl. Mch", 
about 11 O'Cl — arv'd at Ellis' 5^, wliere drank a glass of brandy, 
and proceeded on 5^ to Whitings. Arv'd 2 O'Cl. Arv'd at 
Barkers in Jamaica Plains, but being refused entertainment. 



hale's diary. 225 

were obliged to betake ourselves to the Punch Bowl— where 
leaving the men, 11 m., went to Eoxb^". Saw Gen' Spencer, 
who tho't it best to have the men there, as the Regiment were 
expected there on Monday or Tuesday. Indians at Gen' Spen- 
cers. Ret'' to Winter Hill. 

"28''', Sunday. Went to Roxby., to find barracks for 11 
men that came with me, but not finding good ones ret'^ to Tem- 
ple's House, where the men were arv'd before me. In the eve- 
ning went to pay a last visit to General Sullivan, with Col° 
Webb and the Cpts of the Regt. 

" 29% Monday. Nil mem. 

" 30'h, Tuesday. Removed from Winter Hill to Roxby. 
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ * 

"Feby 4"\ 1776. Sunday. 

" Feb. 14"', 1776. Wednesday. Last night a party of Regu- 
lars made an attempt upon Dorchester, landing with a very 
considerable body of men, taking 6 of our guard, dispersing the 
rest, and burning two or three houses. The Guard house was 
set on fire, but extinguished. 

"[New York.] July 23'', 1776. Report in town of the 
arv'l of twenty S. of the Line in St Law<=« River. Docf Wol- 
cott and Guy Rich'^* Jun"- here fr'" N. L. Rcc'd E. fr. G. Sal- 
stontall. 

"Aug. 21"'. Heavy Storm at Night. Mucli and heavy 
Thunder. Capt. Van Wyke, and a Lieut, and Ens. of Col" Mc 
Dougall's Reg» kill'd by a Shock. Likewise one man in town, 
belonging to a Militia Reg' of Connecticut. The Storm contin- 



226 APPENDIX. 

lied for two or three hours, for the greatest part of whieh time 
[tliere] was a perpetual Liglituing-, and the sharpest I ever 
knew. 

a 22'^'j Thursday. Tlic enemy landed some troops down at 
the Narrows on Long Ishind. 

" 23'', Friday. Enemy h\nded more Troops — News tiiat 
thc}^ had marched up and taken Station near Fhitbush, their 
adyc^ Gds. being on this side near the Woods — that some of our 
Riflemen attacked and droye them back from tlieir post, Inxrnt 2 
stacks of hay, and it was thought kill'd some of them — this 
about 12 O'clock at Night. Our troops attacked them at their 
station near FlatJ)., routed and drove them back \h mile." 



D. 

Page 148. 
Hon. H. J. Raymond's Remarks on Hale. 

In culmirablo fousonauce with our own views, and in most 
eloquent tribute also to the memory of Hale, Hon. H. J. Ray- 
mond of New York — in his Address, October seventh, 1853, at 
the Dedication of the ^Eonument erected at Tarrytown to com- 
memoi-ate the spot wliere ]\Iaior Andre wns captured — says : 

" At an earlier stage of the Revolution, Nathan Hale, Cap- 
tain in the American army, whicli lie had entered, abandoning 
brilliant j)rospects of professional distinction, for the sole pur- 
pose of defending tlie lilterties of his country, — gifted, educated, 
ambitious, — the eciual of Andre in talent, in worth, in amiable 
manners, and in every manly quality, and his superior in that 
final test of character, — the motives by which his acts were 
prompted, and his life was guided, — laid aside every consideration 
personal to himself, and entered upon a service of infinite liaz- 
ard to life and honor, because WASiiiNfiTON deemed it im- 
portant to the sacred cause to wliich l)oth had been sacredly set 



228 APPENDIX. 

apart. Like Andre he was found in the liostile camp ; like 
him, though without a trial, he was adjudged a spy ; and like 
him he was condemned to death. And here the likeness ends. 
No consoling word, no pitying or respectful look, cheered the 
dark hour of his doom. He was met with insult at every turn. 
The sacred consolations of the minister of God were denied him ; 
his Bible was taken from him ; with an excess of barbarity hard 
to be paralleled in civilized war, his dying letters of farewell to 
his mother and sister Avere destroyed in his presence ; and un- 
cheered by sympathy, mocked by brutal power, and attended on- 
ly by that sense of duty, incorruptible, undefiled, which had ruled 
his life, — finding its fit farewell in the serene and sublime regret 
that he " had but one life to lose for his country," — he went 
forth to meet the great darkness of an ignominious death. The 
^oving hearts of his early companions have erected a neat mon- 
ument to his memory in his native town ; but l)eyond that little 
circle where stands his name recorded ? While the Majesty of 
England, in the person of her Sovereign, sent an embassy 
across the sea to solicit the remains of Andre at the hands of 
his foes, that they might be enshrined in that sepulchre where slie 
garners the relics of her mighty and renowned sons — " splen- 
did in their ashes and pompous in the grave " — the children 
of Washington have left the body of Hale to sleep in its 
unknown tomb, though it be on liis own native soil, unhonored 
by any outward observance, unmarked by memorial stone- 
Monody, eulogy,— monuments of marble and of brass, and of 
letters more enduring than all, — ^have, in his own land and in ours, 
P-iven the name and the fivte of Andre to the sorrowing re- 



RAYMOND ON HALE. 229 

membranco of nil time to ronio. Aiiierican genius has cele- 
brated his praises, has sung of his virtues and exalted to heroic 
licights his prayer, manly l)ut personal to himself, for choice in 
the manner of death, — and his dying challenge to all men to ^vit- 
ness the courage with which he met his fate. But where, save 
on the cold page of history, stands the record for Hale ? Where 
is the hymn that speaks to immortality, and tells of the added 
brightness and enhanced glory, when his equal soul joined its 
noble host ? And Avhere sleeps the Americanism of Americans, 
that their hearts are not stirred to solemn rapture at thought 
of the sublime love of country which buoyed him not alone 
'above the fear of death,' but far beyond all thought of him- 
self, of his fate and his fame, or of anything less than his coun- 
try, — and which shaped his dying breath into the sacred sentence 
which tremliled at the last upon his unquivering lip ( 

It would not, perhaps, befit the proprieties of this occasion 
were I to push the inquiry into the causes of so great a differ- 
ence in the treatment which Andre received at the hands of his 
American captors, whose destruction he had come, not to con- 
quer, but to betray,— and that which the British liestowcd upon 
Nathan Hale . Much of it was, doubtless, due to the difference 
in the composition of the opi)Osing armies, — the one of hirelings in 
the service of power, seeking the conquest of freemen, — the other 
of freemen defending their liberties, and keenly alive to tliesen- 
sibilities and affections — the love of home, of brethren, of fel- 
low-men — which alone sustained them in the unequal strife. 
1 have introduced it now, not for the sake of complaint, nor 
even for the worthier purpose of challenging as unpatriotic and 

20 



230 APPENDIX. 

un-American, the habit of allowing all our sympathy and all 
our tears to be engrossed by an accomplished and unhappy foe, 
who failed in a service of doubtful morality, undertaken for 
the sake of promotion and of personal glory, in oblivion of what 
is due to one of a nobler stamp, — our own countryman, who knew 
no object of love but his and our country, who judged "every 
kind of service honorable, which was necessary to the public 
good," and who by genius, by character, by patriotic devotion 
and by misfortune, has paramount claims upon the love and 
cherishing remembrance of American hearts." 



^j^*7arf 




ERRATA. 

In note on page 28, for " Eleazer,^' i-ead " Elijah Bipley.''^ 

On page 152, for " North'' read " East Side "—for " West'' read 

" Xo7^ih Side "—and on page 153, for " East" read " South Side," 

and for " South " read " West Side." 
On page 168, line ^ist, for ^^ graml-7iephews" read "nepheios;" 

and in note on same page, for "72er. David Hale "read '^'^ David Hale 

Esquire." 



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